Door to the Night
by multifandomholic
Summary: After a war, in a future society, there are three sectors: vampire, werewolf, and human. To try and ease tensions, every four years teenagers are observed on their skills and, if they are lucky enough, are chosen to be turned into a werewolf or vampire.
1. Human

**NEW STORY! **

**Please Review and let me know if this is worth continuing, and please excuse any mistakes i missed while editing, i'm still learning. **

**This story will have vampires, humans, werewolves, suspense, mystery, action, and romance.**

**i hope you enjoy. (the other chapters will be longer than this one most of the time too)**

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><p>Chapter 1:<p>

I have one week. One week until my life changes and I do not have any control over what I become. The thought of it sickens me, but at least it keeps the peace.

_Just don't worry about it. _I repeated to myself as I pulled on my old sneakers and zipped up my hoodie.

In my house there is a kitchen on the main floor that doubles as a sitting area, and the small upstairs holds my and my little brother's room that we share; my parents sleep downstairs.

I was just about to shut the wooden door when my five-year-old brother, Wes, popped his head up from the quilt my mother had made. His brown hair was ruffled everywhere from some serious bed head.

"Where are you going Ally?" he asked groggily.

"For a run. I'll be back soon. I promise." I kissed him on the forehead.

His face turned sad and he hugged my waist. "Be careful." He said into my clothing.

"I always am." I smiled at him, and snuck out the door.

Running seems to be the only way to make me happy in this world we live in. It gets my mind off of all the terrible things that are to come, and focus on nature instead.

I take the same dirt path everyday, the one by the gate. In the world I live in today, there are three different sectors within our city and the twenty-foot tall electric fence with barbed wire is the only thing that separates us. Many, many years ago we all lived in peace, but a war broke out due to power struggles, and the only way to stop the war was to separate us. Now there are three sectors. Vampire. Werewolf. Human. (That's in order of importance.)

Being a human meant you are at the bottom of the food chain, literally. That being true, every four years the teenagers, that are 18, must offer ourselves up to the other sectors during the Choosing Ceremony. However, humans aren't the only sector that has to sacrifice our children, the other sectors do too, it's just they usually stay in the sector they are born in; it's the humans that have to move around and make sacrifices.

Humans reproduce to make other humans, and then we're chosen to either leave or stay.

Werewolves can't reproduce with other werewolves, so they reproduce with humans to create "half-werewolves", and then they go through the ceremony, and get chosen to turn into a full werewolf.

The same goes for vampires.

All of it is a confusing mess, really. The first war broke out because my sector (the humans) found out about the supernatural beings that lived among us. Many humans were outraged by the secrecy, so they fought. Many humans died in the war, and the supernatural beings had an easy win. Eventually we all came to an agreement that the three sectors were necessary. Werewolves hate vampires, but are okay with humans, but the vampires don't really like either of us. So, it's better if we all just stay out of each other's way.

When the teenagers are chosen, it's only the strongest that get picked to become werewolves. The weak ones stay with humans, which scares me. Somewhere in the depths of my brain I feel like there are planning something, strategically picking people, but I quickly push these thoughts away, I will never be chosen, I don't have anything that they want.

I'm kind of good at singing, maybe I can draw a quality picture or two, but my tactics for defense weren't exactly extraordinary, and that's what they are looking for: fighting skills.

The run I go on everyday is about four miles long. It isn't too bad, but at the end of it I'm always covered in sweat, especially today because it was unusually hot. That wasn't a problem for me though because the path I run on leads straight to an abandon building.

The windows are punched out, the door barely hangs on its hinges, and the wood that makes up the place seems to be leaning to the right. It looks a lot like my house.

The value that came out of this run was that this was the only house, besides the leader's housing, that had running water.

I carefully open the creaky door and I'm instantly reminded of my older brother; he showed this to me. It was our secret hiding place, away from all of the chaos in reality.

I turned the faucet on and the water was cold, as usual, but it felt good against my warm body. I would have stayed in the shower longer, but I heard a floor panel squeak.

I turned off the water and quickly put on my clothes. My brown, wet hair dripped around my face and soaked my shirt to my back.

Strategically I padded to the door to look out into the living room and craned my head around, looking for the intruder. I didn't see anyone. I stepped out more, careful to avoid the noisy spots in the floor.

I was looking around when I felt a pair of hands grab my waist. I screamed and spun around as quickly as I could, only to find a familiar face. I punched him in the shoulder. "Oh my god, Danny! You scared the shit out of me!"

He laughed, showing off his white teeth that contrasted with his bronzed skin. He was no more than three inches taller than me, but he definitely could take me on in a fight; his muscles were huge. He had light blonde hair and matching light green eyes, a strange combination, but a beautiful one. He held his hands up defensively. "You're the one running around out here all by yourself. Do you know how dangerous it is?"

Being alone in the human compound put you at risk of kidnapping. The vampires had a big knack for abduction; they used humans for sex and for blood, but no one ever tries to stop them because they are afraid of them.

"No one ever looks all the way out here." I defended. "and what about you? Why are you out here if it's _so dangerous."_

"_I'm_ here to make sure _you_ don't get yourself in any trouble. I'm just watching out for you, Ally."

"Thanks." I said sarcastically and we started walking home together. Danny and I were best friends, but that was it. We became friends because of our brothers, they were friends, and the werewolves chose them both. "Danny?" I asked.

"Yeah?" he turned to me.

"Will you promise something to me?" I stopped and turned to the fence. It gave off a faint humming noise, but past that, I could see a beautiful sunset.

"Yeah?" he repeated with a more curious tone this time.

"When you get chosen, by the werewolves, will you say 'hi' to Shane for me?" I asked, still looking away. Shane, my eldest brother, was chosen to be turned into a werewolf during the last picking four years ago. It wasn't a big shock to anyone really. The werewolves always choose the muscular type, the ones that can take a fight. Shane, Danny's brother, and Danny all fit that quota. Danny was going to be a werewolf; we both knew it. He wanted to be one; he didn't like being ordinary, while I did. I wanted to stay human, and I probably would. I was petite, small, but fast. If the werewolves didn't want me, there was no way in hell the vampires would want me.

The vampires are pickier with who they choose, and most of the time they only chose the half-vampires or 'mutts' as we like to call them.

Mutts are better than humans no matter what species you change into. Once they are turned, they will also be stronger than a human that was turned. It's just basic knowledge to everyone, that's why they're chosen over humans, so each sector can build a strong army.

Danny cupped the back of his neck. We didn't like talking about the Choosing Ceremony that much because it meant we were going to be separated. "Of course." He said softly.

"Thanks." I told him as I gave him a small smile. "Race ya home?"

"You're on." He said accepting the challenge and took off running. Before he knew it I was on his tail and then swiftly passing him with ease. He tried to pump his arms faster to help, but it was no use. I was winning.

. . .

The next day, I stood outside of the cement building, holding Wes's hand. This was his first time, giving blood. Every month or so, humans go through the system of donating blood. It's another way to keep peace, they say, we have to do it so that the vampires don't attack.

Wes's small hand squeezed a little tighter as we reached the doorway. Inside I could see the white tile, grey walls, and yellow lights. Down the hallway were several green doors with chipping paint, each led to a room where the assistants hook you up to a machine that takes out blood.

I turned to Wes; he was shaking a little. "Hey, look at me." I kneeled down and touched his chin. "It's okay, it only hurts for a second, and then you wait. They will even let you sing to yourself if that makes you feel better. Do you remember our song?" I asked. He nodded his head and smiled. "Our song" wasn't just a family lullaby that we sang; it was a "human only" song that is sung to us as babies. Human mothers sing it to us when we are scared to remind us that we are safe, and no matter how old I get, the song always reminds me of home.

"Good!" I said to Wes. "You sing that to yourself if you get scared, and you'll be just fine." I smiled at him and he smiled back.

"COOPER?" The lady at the table called; Wes and I walked forward. She had graying black hair, dark circles under her eyes, and looked fatigued, this was a common symptom in the human compound that was due to lack of blood.

"Allison and Wesley." I told her, giving her our full first names. She checked off something, scribbled quickly, and then gestured down the hall. Wes and I had to be in different rooms, but as he walked away from me I heard him humming "our" tune.

Another person was waiting in the small room for me and she was standing next to a grey cushioned chair. "Have a seat." She said in a raspy voice.

I followed her orders and sat down. The chair was still warm from the last person that sat here.

"Give me your arm." She held out her gloved hand. I did as I was told. She took the needle that was in her hand and plunged it into my arm. I only flinched a little; I've been through this process several times before, but the pinch was still a shock to me. The lady wrapped the tube that was sucking out my blood around my wrist and I could feel the heat my blood gave off. After my life source traveled through the tube, it emptied into a bag. After it was full, the lady put a bandage on my arm and led me out the door.

I have six days left. Six days until Choosing Day.

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><p><strong>Review please. (if you don't i don't know if i need to continue writing this or not) so PLEASE let me know what you think!<strong>

**if anything was confusing either PM me, or wait for future chapters because sometimes things do not get fully explained until later. :)**

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	2. Choosing Ceremony

**I love that you guys love this! and SURPRISE i had a second chapter ready because i just loved starting this :) Keep up with the reviews please!**

**this is kind of a longer chapter than i usually write, so let me know if you think it's a good length :)**

**ENJOY**

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><p>Chapter 2:<p>

I counted the days down, marked them off on a piece of paper, and the day was finally here. Choosing Day.

Wes and my parents were already downstairs. _They must have let me sleep in for my 'special day'. _I didn't even hear Wes get up, and we share the same bed.

Slowly, step-by-step, I made my way down the creaky stairs. My mother, father, and Wes were all sitting at the table eating breakfast. The sun was just barely shining through the murky window in the corner of the room.

"Good morning." I spoke up.

"Good morning, dear. Would you like some breakfast?" my mother asked, getting up from her chair.

She set down a black bowl in front of me, scooped out some oats, and poured in steaming water. "Thank you." I said quietly.

My mother had brown hair and was thin, like me. My father had dark hair that matched the scruff around his chin. He was tall, athletic, and a runner, but he had to give it up after he hurt his knee. Wes sat to my right and he barely was tall enough for the table. He sat there in silence as well, but every once and a while I would hear a sniffle come from him. They may all be scared for me, but I'm not going to let them know how nervous I am. I especially won't let Wes see it.

"So Wes," I started as I leaned my elbows on the wooden table. "Guess what I found."

"What?" he mumbled. I leaned over in my chair and searched though the black leather bag I normally carry around. I searched and searched, and then finally, I found it.

"Ah hah!" I said. "Close your eyes." He did as I commanded, and I put the gift in his hands. When he opened his eyes he actually squealed in excitement.

"Jugi!" he squeezed the blanket. "Where did you find him?"

"I have my ways." I looked up at my mom and she winked at me; she actually found it buried in a laundry basket, not me. Jugi was our family blanket. It was Shane's to begin with, and then, when I was born, it was given to me, and then finally it was given to Wes. It was a family heirloom, which we all loved as a kid, and when Wes thought he lost it, he was devastated.

"Thanks, Ally cat!" he smiled real big, and for a moment, I actually thought he forgot about Choosing Day, but that all changed when the announcement was played over the city's P.A. system.

"Attention. Will all of the eighteen-year-olds make their way to the Executive Building immediately. The Choosing Ceremony will begin in five minutes, all other spectators are advised to arrive in ten minutes. " The voice cut off.

I looked at my remaining family. We all got up from the table and hugged each other for a long time. If I was chosen to leave the human sector, I would only see my family one more time on visiting day—given that they want to come and see me.

I wouldn't even get to see them after the Ceremony because all of the family members have to wait outside. On the front of the Executive Building is a giant screen that would tell them our results, and that's all the information they got until visiting day.

I looked at Wes and he had tears in his eyes. "I love you." He cried.

I hugged him. "I love you too," I looked up. "all of you, it will be okay, really." I reassured them.

After we said our long goodbyes, I started walking to the Executive Building. It wasn't a far walk, but there _was_ a drastic change in scenery. Where Danny and I live, the houses are small and wooden, closer to the center of our sector the buildings become larger, and are made out of cement, and then, finally, there's the Executive Building. It is a 20 story high building that had shiny glass windows and fancy sliding doors that open without touching them.

Around the building I can see the crowd of teenagers thickening, and in the sea of people I see Danny. I push and weave my way through and hug him, and we stay together until the moment we have to go into observation.

The observation time is the chance for us to show the vampire and werewolf representatives our strengths. Rumor has it that they can sense when we aren't showing them everything, and that they can tell when we are lying about something.

Finally, the teenagers are allowed into the building and we wait in the hallways. Danny and I sit next to each other on the bench that snakes down the huge hallway. Without saying anything to each other, we both knew we should spend as much time together as possible, since it may be the last time I ever see him.

My leg was bouncing up and down when I heard a silence fall over the crowd. We were all chatting before, and creating a lot of noise, so what was the silence about? I looked down the hallway and found my answer.

A single vampire representative was making his way down the hallway and into the observation room. He was wear fitted black tuxedo and a dark blue tie. He was tall, had dark hair, piercing blue eyes, and didn't seem overly muscular, but I didn't let that fool me. Vampires can never be underestimated because they are stronger that all of us, even if they don't look like it. Speaking of looks, this vampire was quite handsome, although all the vampires I've ever seen, from learning in school, are attractive. They say vampires use their looks to their advantage so they can lure in prey easier.

Chills were sent down my spine.

About five minutes later, the werewolves walked down the hallway, not one, but a pack. They weren't as dressed up as the vampire; they were in jeans and plain t-shirts. The group leader, probably the alpha, was huge—well, all of them were—but he was extra huge. His hair was blonde and it shagged just around his eyes. I studied them all quickly as they passed by, and my heart sank.

In the middle of the pack, there was a tall male with brown hair, the same color as mine, and brown eyes; he hadn't aged since the last time I saw him.

"Shane." I breathed out. Shane looked at me for a second, but then quickly looked away. I felt Danny grab my wrist and I looked at him, he was shaking his head, telling me no. Werewolves believed in family and pack mentality, but they didn't believe in remembering your _human_ family. Once you were in the pack, that's all you thought about. "That was Shane." I spoke to no one in particular.

"I know." Danny said.

"Why is he here?" I asked.

"I don't know, it must be his pack's turn to choose who they want." He whispered now. "I'm not a werewolf yet, I don't know all of their secrets, just what we learned in school."

His voice was cut off by an announcement. "Attention. The observations will begin at this time; stay seated until one of the representatives comes for you. Thank you."

I took in a breath. _This is it._ I thought.

One by one the people left to be individually tested. After the testing was done, they were sent to another room, so this hallway was getting pretty empty.

Danny and I still sat next to each other when we heard the clicking of steps echo our way. I squeezed his hand.

"Daniel Ortho." The familiar voice asked. We both looked up at the same time. It was Shane. He smiled at me and I couldn't help but stand up and hug him.

"Hey Ally." He smoothed the back of my hair.

"What are you doing here? Do you do the choosing?" I asked.

"No, I'm just a guard. You can never be too careful when there are vampires running around in the same building."

"Vampire." I corrected. "There's only one."

"We know, but it's just a precaution."

"It's amazing that a second war doesn't breakout during the Choosing Ceremonies. I mean, it's the only time all three sectors are together." Danny spoke up.

"It's all very organized, and I hate to admit it, but the vamp they brought in this year has been pretty level headed so far." Shane said, almost punishing himself for saying such a thing about the vampires.

"That's good." I said.

Then, Shane shifted, almost like he was listening to someone. "Come on. Time to go." He ushered Danny by the waist, led him into the observation area and shut the metal doors behind him.

I sat alone. There were kids still spotted along the hallway, but none of them were close to me.

The large doors opened again and Shane came out again. "Your turn Ally cat." He said. I stood up and followed him through the doors.

The room we walked into was huge. The ceiling was high and there were no windows at ground level. Cement lined the walls instead of paint, and the floor was cement as well.

Weights and ropes and obstacle courses and other things that I have never seen were scattered along the observation floor. Shane told me to stand on the X that was taped on the floor; he kept walking forward and sat down with the other werewolves.

In a dugout-like area, there were about ten werewolves on one side of a cement wall, and one vampire on the other. He sat there with his leg crossed over his knee, bored.

"Name?" The lead werewolf shocked me by speaking up.

"Allison Cooper." I tried to say it with out any sign of nervousness, but my words came out a little crackly. I heard one of the werewolf girls snicker in the back.

The leader smiled at her. "Go on."

_Go on what? _I looked around the room at all of the training objects. _What do you want me to do? Juggle flaming knives? Is that what you want? Entertainment from a pathetic human, while you sit back and watch?_

The black-haired vampire walked up to me and interrupted my inner monologue. The jacket he was wearing earlier was hanging over his chair, and he was left with his black vest. He didn't say anything; he just studied me. _Is this what always happens?_ He walked around me like a shark circling its prey. _This is it. I don't even get to show them anything; I'm just going to be his dinner. _ I thought. He grabbed my wrist and looked at my arm. I was instantly given goose bumps by his cool touch. He pushed up my sleeve and exposed all of the needle marks on my arm from all of the times I gave blood. He studied it for a second, let my arm go, and continued with his circling.

Finally, stopping in front of me, he grabbed my shoulders. "Relax." He whispered and then gave a gentle smile. "Breathe."

I followed his commands and let out the breath I had been holding in. I shook out my limbs.

He started walking back to his chair, but he still talked to me. "How about we start with the weights. Show Michael how strong you are." By the sly tone of his voice I could tell he wasn't talking in third person, and by the ugly sneer on the werewolf's face I could tell that the 'Michael' he was referring to was the lead werewolf, and the vampire wasn't complementing him.

"Okay." I said.

The weights were labeled by 10's. 10 pounds, 20 pounds, 30 pounds, and so on. I decided to start at 30. I grabbed the metal bar and hoped for the best. It wasn't _that _heavy, but it was still a small struggle for me to lift. I moved on to 40, then 50, and then 60. I couldn't lift the 70-pound bar at all; no matter what I tried it wouldn't budge. "That's all I can do." I said.

"Very well, what else can you do?" The werewolf asked, bored. I knew I didn't impress anybody. Basically, if you didn't have strength, you weren't going to be a werewolf, and if the werewolves didn't want me, the vampire wouldn't either.

"I don't know?" I shook my head slightly. "What do you _want_ me to show _you_?" I asked with a little attitude attached. I don't know why, but the vampire smiled in amusement at what I said. For a moment it seemed like he was the only one observing me, but it didn't make me feel any better; it made me feel like a meal.

The vampire seemed to be looking around the room and then to me, look at an object an then to me. My eyebrows came together in confusion as I waited for a response.

"I would like you to run on the treadmill." The vampire organized the papers in front of him.

"I'm sorry, the what?" I asked, surprised by his question.

"The treadmill." He pointed to an object to the left of me that had two handles on either side with a rotating mat under it. _He wants me to run. How did he know I could run?_ I could feel my heart skip a beat.

"Okay." I replied softly. The machine had several dials on it and I didn't know which one to push, I've never seen a machine like this.

I was about to ask, when the vampire spoke up. "Start at seven, and we'll see what happens from there."

I pushed the button and the mat started moving under me. At first it was a quick walk, then a jog. I stayed at this pace for a while, without feeling winded. I looked over to the werewolf leader and he looked pleased, while the vampire showed little emotion at all. _Maybe the werewolves like stamina…they do run an awful lot._

"See the dial on your right," The werewolf called out, leaning forward in his chair. "Turn it to the right until you can't keep up anymore."

I followed his orders and turned the knob. The speed picked up, I ran faster. I twisted the dial until I couldn't twist it anymore; it was still easy for me to keep up with it, so I just kept running at that speed. I maxed it out.

The lead werewolf, Michael, had a grin on his face and so did the other wolves, including Shane. He wrote something down and spoke up. "Thank you very much, you may leave now."

The vampire still sat in his chair, eyeing me. _I wish I knew what he was thinking about me._

I was breathing hard when I left the room and Danny came running up to me. "So? How do you think you did?" he asked.

"I think I impressed the werewolves." I smiled. Originally, I didn't want to be turned, but if it felt good to be wanted. If I were turned into a werewolf I would be with Danny and Shane. It wouldn't be as bad as I originally thought.

"Really? That's great!" Danny wrapped his strong arms around me again.

"Yeah." I said.

He and I waited in the crammed room with everyone else. We were all ordered to say here until _they _ordered us back in. Minutes ticked by, and more people walked in to wait. In total, there were about a hundred of us: human and mutts combined.

Finally, after an hour of waiting, the doors opened and we were all herded back into the observation room. Boys in one line; girls in another. In the middle were Michael and the vampire. They both had papers in their hands.

"On this paper I have a list. If your name is not called, wait and see if you are called for vampire. If your name is not called at all, you are human." Michael shouted out the orders. _Seems easy enough._

He started rattling off the werewolf mutt boys first. No surprise, they were all chosen to become werewolves. Then he read the human boys that were chosen; Danny's name was on the list. I smiled at him.

Michael read off the girl mutts, and then started with the humans. He read through the entire list; my name was never called. _I'm going to stay human._ Both relief and despair showered over me: I'm not going to change, but I'm never going to see Danny or Shane again, but I will be with my family.

In the meantime the vampire started reading off his list. I was barely listening. Vampires never choose humans because we're never good enough; he was just reading all of the vampire mutt's names. I watched his thumb as it moved down the paper, indicating he was almost done with his list.

I just wanted him to finish. I just wanted to go home.

"And finally… Allison Cooper." The vampire said.

Instantly, I felt all eyes fall on me.

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><p><strong>REVIEW PLEASE! reviews encourage me to update faster :) ...just saying<strong>


	3. Welcome Home

**if any of you are wondering.. i imagine the "human lullaby" to be Safe & Sound- Taylor swift... just because it fits perfectly and has a very haunting, yet, comforting melody... so whenever i mention the human song.. imagine that song ;)**

**i have a long weekend since its easter so i'll try and write another chapter soon, otherwise expect this to be pretty weekly **

**ENJOY**

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><p>Chapter 3:<p>

Every pair of eyes, mutt and human, were looking at me, but I only looked at Danny and Shane. We were enemies now; I was going to be a vampire and they were werewolves.

I would never see my family again because there's no way in hell they'd visit my in the vampire sector; it's too risky, it's too dangerous.

By sectors, the initiates started filing out. The humans that were never called walked back through the metal doors and into the plaza to meet their families. The werewolves exited to the right, and the vampires exited to the left.

I was frozen, shocked by everything. _Why was_ I_ chosen to be a vampire?_

The crowd of vampire mutts forced me to walk out the door. I turned around in a panic, and tried to look at Danny and Shane one last time; we all shared one last look, and then the doors closed in front of me, shutting me off from their world. Forever.

The vampire group walked through the hallway and we all chatting with each other, while I kept my head down. _I need to talk with the vampire. Why did he choose me?_ I tried to push my way forward to find the black-haired vampire, but the crowd was too thick in this small area.

At the end of the hallway, we were led outside. The light shocked my eyes; it was sunny, and much brighter than the synthetic lighting in the building. Now that we were outside, we were herded into a long silver train. I was gazing at the magnificent machinery and I noticed the black-haired vampire step onboard.

One by one we stepped forward and then walked up the steps. I was the next one to step up.

There was a small, petite, woman that stood on the steps. She was clothed in a light blue-grey dress. "Give me your hand." She reached out. As I gave it to her, I stepped up. She took a metal device and poked my finger.

"Ow." I said. She squeezed my finger and scarlet bubble formed. She took a small, labeled vile and dripped my blood into it. "What is that for?" I asked curiously, but she didn't respond.

"Next?" She asked, ignoring me.

Confused, I stepped up into the rest of the train and looked around. A rush of cool air chilled my body to the bone. I only had on a thin top layer, so I hugged myself to keep warm.

On either side of me there were private booths that had a large window and a door that separated them from the aisle. I picked one that was empty and locked the door behind me. There was a cushioned bench that was a made soft red fabric and I slid into it, maneuvering my way around the table that rested between me and the other bench.

The train jerked to life and began to head away from the human sector. Just as the train started to gain speed, we passed the plaza of the Executive Building. For a second, I saw my family huddled together, crying. I put my hand on the glass window, almost like I was trying to reach out for them and I soon felt myself crying with them.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face in them. _I don't want this life._

I started humming the gentle tune of our lullaby.

. . .

I must have cried myself to sleep because I woke up with my head against the glass window. My stomach growled and I gripped it; I was actually in _pain_ from hunger. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and we had left the human sector around four: that's more than eight hours without food, counting the fact that I have no idea what time it is. I don't know how long I was napping, but it wasn't that long because it was still light out.

I opened the door and looked down the aisle. There was a lady with a rattley silver drink cart. I walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, when do we get dinner?" I asked politely. She didn't speak, but she handed me a small packet that was about the size of my palm. I looked down at it. It was blood! I was going to give it back to her, but when I looked up again, she was gone.

I huffed out air, confused.

"Aw, come on! The human gets something and we don't?" I heard a voice behind me whine. I slowly turned around. Leaning on one of the doors with his arms crossed was a thin, sandy blonde male. His blue eyes found mine.

"You want it? You can have it." I started to walk past him and shoved the packet into his chest.

"No, no, no. I want _real_ food. You didn't get any?" he asked.

I turned back around to look at him. "No. I haven't eaten anything since this morning."

"Aww. You had breakfast? Lucky!" he whined more.

"You didn't?" I asked, feeling bad for him.

"No. I don't think they're feeding us for a while." He said.

"What? Why not?" I asked.

He smiled. "Why don't you come in our booth, so I can catch you up on all of the vamp stuff." He waggled his eyebrows.

I hesitated. I didn't know this person. He was a mutt, a vampire mutt, but he was being friendly to me, and he was the only person that talked to me this whole time. "Okay." I said and crossed my arms as I walked past him.

It turns out that he wasn't in the booth by himself. There was a redheaded girl sitting down in the booth with narrow eyes that remind me of a cat. When she saw me walk in, she glared at me.

"Hey, place nice." The boy said scooting in behind me and into the booth.

"Shut up, Alex." She crossed her arms and looked out the window.

I took a seat next to the blonde-haired boy named Alex, across from the redhead. "So, human, what's your name?" he asked.

"Allison." I told him quickly.

"Well, Allison, I'm Alex, and this cheery lady is Christina." He told me. I smiled a little. I may not make friends with Christina, but Alex seemed to like me. "You look cold." He said, taking off his sweater and handing it to me.

I looked at him. "I'm fine." I lied.

"No, really it's okay. I'm used to the cold. The vamps like to keep everything like an icebox. It doesn't bother me as much as it bothers you." Alex said kindly.

"Fine." I said and took his sweater. "Thank you."

"So…Allison," Christina stumbled while using my name. "how did you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?" I asked.

Christina rolled her eye. "How did _you, _a _human_, impress the vamps? Did you let the rep bite you?"

"What? No! I-I don't know how I got in." I said.

She had a sly smirk on her face and chuckled. "Alright." I don't think she believed me.

Alex turned to me and talked in a hushed voice. "She's normally really nice, she just gets cranky when she hasn't eaten." He joked and threw the blood packet at her.

"Ugh!" She picked it off of her lap.

"Y-you guys drink blood too?" I asked hesitantly.

"No. Well… yes. Some of us do; they think it will make them stronger when they are turned into a vampire, but Christina and I don't."

"But there are other mutts that do." Christina finally gave up her attitude and came into the conversation. "There's a black-haired girl, she's got naturally darker skin—her name's Jade—you'll always see her attached to and equally dark haired boy named Ethan—"

"They look like brother and sister." Alex snickered.

Christina eyed Alex for interrupting her. "Anyway… stay away from them. They do whatever and _who_ever they want just to get their way."

"I'm taking it they won't take it lightly that I was put into the vampire sector?"

Alex and Christina shared a look. "Just watch your neck." She said.

My eyes widened and Alex stared down Christina. She gave a look back at him as if to say '_What?_'

Slowly, the train came into a tunnel and I could see nothing but blackness. I could hear the breaks creaking as we came into our destination. The tunnel ended suddenly the view was replaced with the vampire compound.

"Home sweet home." Alex said as he looked out the window with me.

"This is it? Everyone lives… underground?" _It's kind of cliché, isn't it? _I thought.

The underground fortress was sophisticatedly built with dim horizontal lights that lined all of the walkways. From the train, I could see several stores, but they had gates in front of them like they were closed. Scattered along the rocky walls there were tunnels that I assumed lead to other parts of the sector.

There weren't many people roaming around, which was quite different than the human compound; we kept ourselves sane by keeping ourselves busy. "Where is everyone?" I asked.

"Probably sleeping. It's still daylight, remember, the days and nights are reversed." Alex said. "Come on!" he grabbed me and started heading for the exit.

We were rushing out of the train, and were about to explore when we both noticed a vampire standing in front of us. _I hadn't seen him standing there before._ He was young, tall, not overly muscular like a werewolf, but he definitely had muscles. He had dark black hair and… whoa… two different colored eyes! One of his eyes was all green, light green, and the other was half green, half brown. He stood near the door of the train with his hands behind his back. He wore a black t-shirt (even though it's freezing in here), and dark loose pants with black boots. He just stood there until everyone was off of the train.

I searched behind me to look for the vampire I had saw before, but he wasn't there. I looked by the shops to see if he was walking into the depths of the cavern, but he wasn't there either. The only other explanation was that he was still on the train, but it left, and as soon as it was gone, the dark-haired vampire started speaking.

"My name is Cashile," _Interesting name. _I thought. "I will be training you for the next week." His two toned eyes began scanning the crowd. "If you are lucky, you will be turned within the end of this week, if not, you will be given a job in which you must serve until you are decreed 'ready'." His eyes stopped scanning and landed on me. "Are you all ready?" he asked. We all mumbled our yes's. "Very well, follow me." Cashile turned his back to us and walked us into the cave. I looked around one more time to look for the vampire I saw in Observation—my last hope for knowing why I was here—but he had vanished.

All of the halls were made of rock and were lit by the strip of blue light. As we walked, the light kept morphing from deep blue to light blue. It was mesmerizing. We stepped down a winding staircase until we entered another hall. The railing was small and didn't offer much protection. My heart picked up its pace. If I were to fall, I would fall several feet down and onto jagged rocks.

I was so preoccupied with fear that I almost ran into the person in front of me when we stopped. Cashile's eyes found mine again. "If anyone does not wish to go through training now, speak up. This is the last call."

I knew better than to speak up. _He_ wanted me to back out, hell, _I _wanted to back out, but we both knew what that meant for me. My new 'job' description would include me being bitten and tortured for blood. If that is what is in my fates, so be it, but I'm not going down with out a fight. I'm not going to give up this early in the game. I was the only human chosen for a reason.

No one said anything.

"Very well, we will begin training immediately." He opened a heavy metal door in order to lead us into the training room and my new life.

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><p><strong>What do you think? LET ME KNOW PLEASE!<strong>

**and p.s. the name "Cashile" is pronounced "Ka-shile" not "Cash-ilse"...i'll explain the reason for the name soon...**

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	4. Hunger

Chapter 4:

In a single file line, we all passed Cashile and entered the training room. The room was similar to the observation room; everything was cement, but this was much smaller.

It was strange that we were starting training right away. We just got here; _I_ just got here. All of this was new to me; I wanted to explore and learn about my new sector (as scary as it was).

I also wanted to eat. I wanted to eat so bad that I could smell food. In the human sector, food was scarce and when we _did_ get it, it wasn't very extravagant. There was only one time I remember getting a full meal, and that was once in school when my class toured the Executive building.

I wanted food so badly that I could smell chicken with some sort of sauce, wild rice, and some sort of cooked coniferous vegetable. My stomach roared at me and I heard other people grumping their complaints as well. Why are they complaining? I was the one hallucinating about food.

Then I saw it. Fifteen platters of steaming chicken thighs covered in creamy gravy sitting on top of wild rice with broccoli. Fifteen. That means there were only enough for half of us. The thought of me not getting food, when others did, made my stomach growl even more.

I watched Cashile stride in behind us and then take his place in front of the podiums that were holding the meals. He clasped his hands behind him again and waited. I could hear nervous whispers come from behind me.

"Aren't you all hungry?" he asked.

Silence.

"If you're hungry, you should fulfill your hunger, should you not?" he asked. The silence still filled the room, but one boy, with hair so blonde it looked white, slowly stepped forward. Cashile stood in his place and smiled at the boy. He raised one arm as if to offer him to the meals. The boy took that as his queue, and he started walking toward the meal, turning his back on Cashile. The boy got his hands around a plate, but as soon as he did, Cashile came at him with inhuman speed and tackled him to the ground, causing the plate to shatter into jagged pieces. The boy never suspected a thing.

Cashile raised an eyebrow as he stood up and laughed at the boy. "I suggest you do not let your hunger distract you so easily." He gave the boy a shove back towards our group. "You will know only three things when you become a vampire: hunger, thirst, and desire. My job is to teach you how to control yourself, teach you how to ignore these feelings and focus on the fight. As soon as one of you beats the distraction of your hunger, you will all be allowed to eat."

I looked at Alex. He looked about as shocked as I was. How are _we_ supposed to beat a vampire?

This is what Alex was talking about on the train. The vampires don't want us eating because they want us to experience the same extreme hunger that they experience. Little did they know, as a human, I was extremely familiar with hunger. I hope no one saw the smug smile appear on my face.

From the back, another boy pushed his way forward to attempt to fight Cashile. He was tall, had dark black hair and tanned skin. A similar looking girl followed behind him but stayed in the crowed. The boy—Ethan, I presume—stepped up to Cashile, bent his knees and put up his fists, ready to fight.

Ethan made the first move, punching at Cashile's head. He effortlessly blocked the punch and quickly returned a blow to Ethan's abdomen. Ethan stumbled backward and coughed to try and regain his breath. Ethan didn't even have time to process what was happening by the time Cashile attacked again, knocking him off of his feet. Ethan's head slammed against the cement floor and he shut his eyes from the pain.

At this point, the dark-haired girl—Jade—ran at Cashile screaming. She swiftly dove to the floor and swiped her leg underneath Cashile causing him to fall. She crawled on top of him and started throwing punches. Suddenly, he grabbed both of her fists, in mid-punch, and rolled on top of her, holding her hands above her head. She struggled under his weight and kicked her legs.

Ethan was now slowly getting up. He was on his feet, but he seemed to wobble back and forth, he eventually resigned to collapsing to his knees.

With the same inhuman speed as before, Cashile stood up and neither Jade nor Ethan tried to fight him again. They hobbled wearily back to the group.

Periodically, people tried to fight Cashile, but they were all easily beat. _This isn't fair._ I thought. _We can't beat him; he has an unfair advantage. _That sparked a thought in my head.

After Cashile defeated the last person, I stepped forward. He laughed at me and I could hear other mutts snicker along with him. I knew what they were thinking. They were stronger than me, being half vampire and all, and if they couldn't beat him, nobody could, but they weren't thinking strategically like me. All they cared about was they physicality of this fight; they completely forgot about what Cashile had just told us. Three things control vampires: hunger, thirst, and desire. I don't have to be overly powerful in defense skills to beat him; I have to use my knowledge of his weakness to my advantage. Let's just hope it doesn't blow up in my face.

With my heart beating fast, I tied my brown hair behind my head and walked past Cashile to pick up one of the broken plate pieces. His two-toned eyes looked confused, but only for a second; he quickly figured out my tactic.

I took the ceramic shard and cut the meaty part of my hand. A scarlet line appeared instantly and my hand stung from the cut. Ignoring the pain of the cut and hunger, I dropped the shard and rubbed my hands together, only to wipe them off on my neck, leaving a fresh, bloody smear.

Cashile stood very still and eyed my neck for what seemed like an eternity.

"Now we're even." I called out as I got into a fighting position. At this point, I didn't know if he was going to fight me of kill me. Either one seemed quite possible at the moment.

The entire room held their breath, and finally, through gritted teeth he spoke. "You may all go to the dinning hall now." Cashile spoke the words to the group, but kept staring me down.

Hesitantly, the group made their way into the hallway, and I started to follow them until Cashile grabbed me by the wrist. I sucked in air as he pulled me in, inches away from his face.

"Do you know… how _stupid_ that little stunt was?" he looked from the blood on my neck to my eyes.

"I-I—" I stuttered.

"If you pulled that with anyone else in this sector you would have been dead. Do you understand that? You're lucky they hired me to train because of my control."

_Control? _He was practically breaking my wrist with his vice-like grip.

I could see him clench his jaw for a moment, when finally, he let go. "Do me a favor, and try not to get yourself killed. Remember, you're the bleeding fish in this tank full of sharks." He said grimly and then ran out of the training room. As soon as he was gone, I let out the breath I had been holding in.

I walked down the hall and looked for a bathroom. I ended up finding one nearby and I washed away the blood on my neck and hands. The cut on my hand seemed to have stopped bleeding, but I shoved some paper towel in my pocket just in case.

I decided it was a good idea to clean of all of the blood from my body because I didn't want to make it easier for the sharks to sniff me out.

. . .

Eventually I found my way into the dining hall. It wasn't that hard to find since I could hear the chatter of conversations from the tunnel.

Inside was almost the entire vampire population. I could tell the vampires from the mutts because the mutts were the ones eating real food, not blood. There were even small mutt children running around. I smiled as I thought of Wes.

I continued to walk deeper into the dining hall and over in the corner I spotted Alex and Cristina sitting with some other people that I didn't recognize. Alex saw me first and waved his hand around to try and flag me down. I nodded at him and got my food.

I grabbed an apple and the lady behind the counter gave me pancakes with sausage and milk. My stomach growled with excitement. _Finally, real food._

I walked over to sit down with Alex and Christina.

"I thought we would never see you again." Alex said shaking his head in disbelief. "I thought Cashile was going to kill you." He shoved food into his mouth.

"What happened?" the male next to Alex asked. Now that I looked, this male looked a lot like Alex. He had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes, but he looked a couple years older. He was only holding a silver bottle. I couldn't see its contents.

"Allison cut herself in front of Cashile and it honestly looked like he was going to lose it." Christina informed the man.

"I'll be damned." He leaned back and took a sip out of his silver bottle. He stopped drinking and looked at me. "I wouldn't be pulling that stunt too many times around him. Was he pissed off?"

"Yeah." I said quietly.

He laughed a little. "I'd watch your back; Cashile's crazy powerful." He looked like he was going to continue his story, but then he stopped, most likely from the concerned look on my face. "I'm sorry, I don't think you were ever introduced to me," he eyed Alex. "I'm Jaxon, Alex's brother." He smiled as he held out a hand.

I timidly gave him my uncut hand and he grabbed it. His hand was cool to the touch. _He's a vampire._ He let go of my hand and leaned his elbows on the table.

"So, what were you saying about Cashile?" I asked, intrigued by his comment.

"Oh," he leaned in more like he was going to spill juicy gossip. "Cashile is insanely strong, stronger than any of us, and he's got powerful friends in high places. No one _ever_ wins a fight with him. You definitely don't want to get on his bad side." Jaxon said. _Looks like I already am._ I thought.

"Why is he so powerful?" I asked, extremely curious about this Cashile character now.

"Well, there are lots of different theories, but this is the most common one: I think he's a mutt of both vampire and werewolf…like, a vampire mutt and a werewolf mutt got together and had him, so he has less human in him, which equals less weakness." Jaxon finished.

"Wait, wouldn't you know where he came from due to the Choosing Ceremony?"

"No, that's the weirdest part. No one knows where he came from. He was never chosen; he just showed up four years ago with the group, and the head vamp said he wasn't on the list. He showed up already turned too. No one knows what he was originally." Jaxon's facial expressions made him look like he was telling a ghost story. "I'm telling you, there is something suspicious about him. Everyone tries to keep their distance." He shrugged his shoulder.

Jaxon's story confused me. Cashile was never chosen? He just showed up? That _doesn't_ happen. And why was he so powerful?

I tried to ignore all of these confusing thoughts and eat my 'breakfast'. It was easy to let my mind drift since the food was so warm and it tasted so good. I was used to cold and bland food, but _this_ was an explosion of flavor. I had to mentally tell myself to slow down and savor every bite or else I would get sick.

As I was chewing, I just happened to look up and meet eyes with Cashile. He quickly looked away and continued walking in the path he was already taking. I curiously watched him walk up to a guarded door. He said something to the guard and then the guard opened the door to let Cashile enter.

"What's that over there?" I asked my friends. They all shared a look like they didn't want to say anything. "What?" I asked.

"It's where they keep the humans for live feedings." Alex said with a mouthful of food.

My heart sunk. Humans were being tortured in there, and Cashile just went in there. "Looks like your little act wore Cashile a little thin." Jaxon said jokingly. Great, that means my blood makes Cashile hungry, and the only way for him to cure himself is to drink fresh blood. Awesome. Just awesome.

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><p><strong>Review PLEASE. i got a ton of reviews before and only like 2 on the last chapter.. i'm not begging for reviews, i just want to make sure you guys still like the story :)<strong>


	5. Fight Club

Chapter 5:

After breakfast, we were allowed into our bunking rooms for an hour of rest. One hour. Most of the other initiates didn't bother to come and rest because they were used to the opposite sleeping schedule; however, I was not. Christina was the only girl that followed me into the sleeping area. We both figured we should sleep when we are given the chance because who knows when we will get to sleep again?

The sleeping area consisted of several different bunk beds with a dresser at the foot post to share with your bunkmate. There was one full body mirror and a sink; the rest of the bathroom area was down the hall in the locker room. The locker room had several community showers, sinks, and mirrors. The girl's locker room was next to the boys, and then farther down the hall was the boy's bunk area.

Christina claimed the top bunk, which is fine with me because the only energy I had left was used to collapse onto the lower bed. The mattress was soft, and was better than mine at home. I noticed there were enough sheets to keep me warm, so I took off the sweatshirt Alex had given me before and my other shirt as well, leaving me in my tank top. I don't know why, but I always liked to sleep in shorts and a tank top.

I was about to sink into bed when Christina spoke up. "Whoa," she said, jumping down and grabbing my arm. "what are those?"

I looked down at my scars. "They're needle scars from all the times I've given blood." I tried to shrug it off and make it not seem like a big deal. "It's not like this for everyone; I have a rare blood type so I have to give more often."

"AB negative?" Christina asked.

"Yeah…" I said, a little shocked that she knew my blood type.

"That must be one hungry vamp." She said as she climbed back up into her bunk.

"What do you mean?"

"Vampires tend to drink the same blood type they had before they were vampires. So, if a vamp had AB negative blood before they were turned, they will prefer to drink AB negative blood as a vampire." She explained this all to me like it was old news, like I should already know all of it. "And because AB negative is such a rare blood type, I bet it's only one, _maybe two_, vampires that are getting your blood." She lay down on her pillow and pulled the covers close to her face. Before I knew it, she was asleep. I bet she didn't even realized how much her story affected me.

With no one to talk to anymore I crawled into my bed and covered my cold body with the soft covers. I tried to sleep, but my mind wouldn't let me. All I could think about was that someone, in this sector, was drinking my blood.

I guess I never really thought about it before, but now it sunk in more than ever. I thought maybe my blood went to random people, _different_ people, each time, but no, it went to the same person each time.

Now I had two questions I needed to find answers to: _Who was drinking my blood? _and _Why was I chosen?_ I could only hope that the two answers had no relation. I could only hope I wasn't chosen to fulfill some vampire's hunger.

. . .

When I woke up, I knew I had received much less than an hour of sleep. My mind was groggy and still confused, but I somehow managed to get dressed. I noticed there were new clothes on the dresser by our bed, and I could see Christina already dressed.

"Come on! We have to hurry." She shoved me along.

I padded over to the new clothes and threw on the grey v-neck tee shirt and black pants. My new clothing was comfortable and flexible, which gave me an idea of what our training had in store today.

I quickly laced the black training boots and ran to catch up with Christina.

We met up with the other initiates in the training room. As usual, Cashile stood stiffly in front of the group, waiting for us to get organized. The more I see him, the more I begin to think we actually make him uncomfortable, or maybe he just hates training us; either one is a real possibility.

When the last of the group filed into the room and he began talking.

"Today, we will begin your fight training. You will practice your skills on your own, then at the end of the day, I will partner you up and we will determine your readiness. Periodically throughout today's session—as well as the rest of the week—representatives will come and monitor your aptitude; _they_ will ultimately determine who will be turned." His eyes scanned the crowd. "Are there any questions?" he asked, but, as usual, no one said anything, and even if they wanted to speak, they were too frightened to. He nodded slightly. "Let us begin."

With that, everyone scattered to different workstations. In separate corners of the cement room, there were large punching bags hanging from chains as well as small teardrop shaped ones. Other training activities we set up, but I didn't know what they were to be used for. Honestly, I had no idea where to start, so I walked over to the closest station: the large punching bags.

There was a box of punching gloves as well as white power. I put both on and looked around at the other initiates for guidance.

"Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to actually do something?" an annoyed voice asked.

Surprised by his voice, I jumped and turned around to face Cashile. "N-no. I was actually just getting started." I stuttered.

"Really?" He threw on a sarcastic surprised face. "Okay then. Let's see what you got." He stepped back, and crossed his arms.

_Okay, here we go. _I gathered all of my strength and punched the bag. It barely moved. Cashile snorted a laugh.

At that moment, for some reason, I thought of the black-haired vampire at the Choosing Ceremony. Maybe because then, as well as now, I wanted to prove I was worth something, that I was more than just a useless human. _Relax…_ _Breathe..._ I ordered myself. I readjusted my stance and punched the bag, this time letting out a breath at the same moment I made contact. Involuntarily, I grunted.

The bag moved away from me and the chain rattled. As it quickly swung back toward me, I dodged it at the last minute. I threw my arms up and turned to share my triumph with Cashile, but he was gone.

My eyebrows scrunched together as I searched for him and I finally found him standing next to a blonde girl; he was holding her arms in a punching position and she was batting her dark eyelashes at him. "Like this?" She said innocently, but he paid little to no attention to her, just technique.

Annoyed, I turned my back to them. Obviously he doesn't care if I can punch a bag, but I don't care what _he _thinks; all I care about is improving my skills. I have to improve. I _have_ to. If I don't, I'll spend my life being some vampire's personal blood bank.

For the rest of training I spent my time dodging, punching, kneeing, and kicking the bag. Mostly dodging.

. . .

"Everyone gather up." Cashile whistled and called out. Everyone promptly listened to his commands. I jogged over to meet up with the group too. We were all breathing hard and sweating from our training.

Near the door, I could see three men standing. I've never seen them before. They were all ruthless looking, but one stood out more than the others. He was at the end, had brown hair, dark—almost black—eyes, young looking, and he was staring directly at me. _I hate it when vampires do that._ I thought as my heart beat loudly against my chest. I saw his lips curve into a fiendish smile, and it didn't make me feel any better. His smile wasn't friendly; nothing about him was friendly. Everything about him was _predatory_. Everything about him made my skin crawl.

"We will begin the partner fights now. I will choose the groups, everyone who is not participating will stay in the room and watch." Cashile kept speaking. "Travis and Alex, you are our first pair. Step to the center of the room and wait for my signal." Cashile walked over to the other vampires and they whispered quietly to each other. Cashile nodded to Alex and the boy named Travis, signaling for them to begin.

The boy named Travis was about the same size as Alex, both in height and build and skill. He had dark skin, and dark hair, but unexpected light green eyes. This is going to be a pretty unexciting fight; no one was going to win. It was going to end in a stalemate.

The two of them began fighting, Alex threw a punch aiming for Travis's head, but he ducked and hit Alex in the abdomen in the mean time. Alex stumbled back a few steps and held up his arms to block the fists that were flying at him. Eventually Alex regained enough strength to kick Travis in the groin. Travis fell to his knees, and Alex stood proudly over him. Alex looked over his shoulder at the vampire representatives. They still stood in the corner, waiting for something to happen.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" one of the vampires asked.

"He's down. Haven't I won?" Alex asked.

The vampire raised his eyebrow. "Make me believe you've won."

Travis slowly stood back up, and they both prepared to fight again. Travis lunged forward and aimed for Alex's head. Alex ducked and punched Travis's abdomen. Travis kicked and kneed Alex. The both of them went back and forth, punching and dodging, but neither of them seemed to be making any progress, until Alex made one powerful swing towards Travis's head. Travis tried to duck, but he didn't get far enough down. Alex's fist made contact with Travis's temple, causing him to fall forcefully to the ground. Travis's body stayed on the ground and didn't seem to move. Alex stood over him, breathing hard.

"Congratulations Alex, you've passed the first round." The vampire said.

Cashile walked over and grabbed Travis's limp body under his arms. Travis groaned slightly. "Alex, you may stand back with the group. You are finished now." Cashile informed as he dragged Travis across the room to the "loser's side".

So that is what we have to do. Fight until someone gets knocked out…

Alex ended up standing next to me; his hands were trembling and were slightly bruised.

"Our next pairing will be," Cashile started. "Allison and Ethan."

I didn't have to look in a mirror to know what my face looked like. My jaw dropped open, my knees buckled, and my eyes widened.

_Ethan? Why I was fighting Ethan? Why? _

Ethan was tall, and much more muscular than any of us. If he wasn't a vampire mutt, I'm sure that the werewolves would have chosen him. His arms and legs were huge, and his hands seemed larger than my face.

Now that I was standing next to him, he stood a good foot taller than me. His thin lips curved into a wicked smile. I turned to look at Cashile and the other vampires, waiting for them to say 'Just kidding, you don't have to fight someone that is ten times your size'. This isn't fair. Alex and Travis were both mutts, and were both similar in strength; that is definitely not the case between Ethan and me.

As I looked across the room I saw the same vampire eyeing me, like he was waiting for my blood to spill. He was anticipating this fight. As for Cashile, he was expressionless. I couldn't tell if he was anticipating the fight or dreading it.

I heard his command to start and within a fraction of a second I saw a blurry fist come straight at my head. The impact left my temple throbbing with white-hot pain and I could heard Ethan murmur, "This is too easy." With his devilish smile still plastered on his face.

Again, Ethan's fists came toward me, and I threw up my arms in defense. I blocked his blow, but he kept on hitting me all over. I could feel my arm bruising more and more with every brutal strike. As soon as I felt the blows stop, I looked up, and as soon as I saw Ethan lunge for another attack, I dodged his fist; he missed me completely. Recoiling, he threw his elbow back and tried to hit me again, but once again I ducked. Now that I thought about it, I was swifter than he was; he was bulky while I was light on my feet. I smiled at this small victory.

I dodged him for as long as I could, and I could hear him start to growl. I was able to catch a quick glimpse across the room; Cashile was laughing and shaking his head and the dark eyed vampire looked angry.

Looking at them distracted me, and Ethan closed in on my throat. His large hand wrapped around my entire neck and he lifted me off of the ground. I grabbed his wrist to try and stop the pressure, but I barely affected him. I was gasping for breaths now and the corners of my vision started to blur.

"Enough." Cashile ordered with no sign of panic in his voice. "We don't want to kill her."

Ethan rolled his eyes and dropped me. My knees couldn't support me and I crashed to the floor. I grasped my throat and coughed as I tried to regain my breath.

"Next group," Cashile called out, but I ignored him, I ignored everything. All I knew was pain as I limped over to the 'loser's corner'. _This was great first impression for the vampires._ I thought.

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><p><strong>PLEASE REVIEW. i really appreciate you guys taking the time to review :) i read every single one because they get sent to my phone. so please, please keep reviewing!<strong>

**p.s. i have found "faceclaims" (models) for my characters... if you want, i can post a link with all of them so you can put a face to the names... but this is just and idea... let me know if you guys would like that... yeah... soo...**

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	6. Running From Threats

**so my computer died halfway through editing this, so i'm sorry for any mistakes that didn't get saved!**

**and, as i promised, here are the models i picture for some of the characters: .com/#/d4w8lir ... the other people are left to your imagination :)**

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><p>Chapter 6:<p>

As soon as our training session was over, I walked to the locker room and prepared an ice bath. I filled a tin tub with cold water and put a bucket of ice in it to sooth my aching muscles.

I took off my outer layers and was left in my sports bra and underwear. As I finally looked at myself in the mirror, I could see all of the damage that had been done to my body. My arms were bruised and I had purple finger marks on the sides of my neck.

I dipped my foot into the icy water and goose bumps crawled up my leg. My breathing increased as I became fully submerged and I had to force myself to breathe slower. Now that I somewhat relaxed my body, the ice was quite soothing. I laid my head back on the tin and closed my eyes and for the first time since I arrived, I found a sort of peace.

My peace was broken as soon as I heard a male voice. "Enjoying yourself?"

My head shot up and my eyes snapped open. The familiar, terrifying vampire stood in front of me. His dark eyes inspected my half naked body and I crossed my arms to try and cover myself.

He pouted a lip. "You don't have to cover yourself on my account." I still said nothing. "I saw you looking at me earlier," he reached out and caressed my neck with his cool touch, and I cringed. "we may have something going here; we don't get humans very often, and you are _by far_ the best." His eyes continued to look down on me and he took a strand of my hair to curl it around his finger. Feeling extremely uncomfortable, I got out of the tub and wrapped a towel around my body. The vampire followed me.

"Excuse me." I said softly as I tried to walk around him to go to my room, but he stopped me.

"You're not going anywhere." He said with the same vicious smile he had given me plenty of times before. I tried to move around him one more time but he grabbed me, making me drop my towel, and shoved me against the wall; involuntarily, I let out a scream when I hit it making the grin on his face even bigger.

"I can hear your heart beat." He said through his teeth. And that's when I noticed his fangs. Sharp, pointy, and deadly. "Your blood doesn't come around very often."

Everything he was saying before made me sick to my stomach, but that one line made me panic even more. _This is the vampire that drinks my blood and now he is going to kill me because of his own selfish desires._

He chuckled deeply as if he was enjoying seeing the fear on my face. I struggled. But everything I did made him push harder against my body and bare his teeth more.

"Are you harming one of my initiates?" I heard Cashile's voice call out. I've never been so happy to have him near. I hated him, but I was thankful he showed up.

Annoyed, the vampire retracted his fangs and turned his head to Cashile. "We were just having fun."

"The same way you were having fun when you killed that last human? No one touches my initiates. They are under _my_ protection until the end of the week." His voice held power that radiated throughout the silent locker room. "Get out of here. Now." Cashile commanded coldly.

The vampire growled as he began to leave, but he stopped and whispered into my ear. "I'll see you in a week." After that, he vanished within a blink of an eye.

I looked up at Cashile and his two-toned eyes looked back at me. "What did I tell you?" he asked.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help that he came here, I'm not the one bringing other vampires in to observe my like an ant under a magnifying glass." With that, I grabbed my clothes and rushed past Cashile to go to my bed and cry. I just wanted to go home.

. . .

When I woke up the next day, there was a pair of sneakers at the side of my bed. They were brand new and grey. My old pair at home used to be white, and were starting to get holes in them. My parents gave them to me when I turned 15, and we've never had enough money to buy a new pair; we never used our money on any luxuries.

When I tried the shoes on, they fit perfectly. I remembered trying on my old pair when I first got them, they were big so I would grow into them, but not these, these new sneakers felt like they were made for me.

As I tested the comfort by walking, I made my way to the training room.

"Today we are going for a run. This is the easiest way for us to test your stamina, and believe it or not this will transfer over to you once you become a vampire. Theoretically, the more stamina you have the better control you will have over your bloodlust over long periods of time."

_What is this? Running? Something I'm actually good at? _I might not shine brighter than anyone else, given my human disadvantages, but at least I'll be able to keep up.

"We will be taking the trail in the back. Come on." Cashile motioned for us to follow him and we walked outside.

It was nighttime and the moon was almost full. Looking at the moon always reminded me of my brother, and now Danny, since they are werewolves. Even though they could transform into a wolf whenever they wanted, they were still forced to turn on the full moon. It made me wonder what they are doing, how their lives are going.

The path we were taking was paved and had streetlights that went along the whole path, which was much nicer than the one I ran on in the human sector. The trees were just starting to bloom their bright green buds and the ground was finally warming up, creating a fog that crept along the forest floor.

"Run at your own pace on the way there, but walk back if you need to." Cashile said and as soon as he stopped talking, I ran.

The feelings that came with running were one of a kind. I was free. I felt at home. My mind cleared of everything, all I knew was nature. I was ahead of everybody, including Cashile, but he obviously wasn't using his supernatural speed.

After about and hour of constant running we came up to a hill were I could clearly see the fence, and across the fence I could see the human compound. I only knew it was the human compound by the mangled look of it as the moonlight shined off the tin roofs.

I stopped in my tracks. I could only hear one pair of footsteps come up from behind me, and he wasn't breathing hard at all.

"Is that where you lived?" Cashile asked quietly even though no one was around us; they were too far behind to even know where we were.

"I've never gone this long with out my family. The longest I've gone is eight hours, and that was for school." I could feel my eyes create a blurry film of tears. I don't know why I was talking to Cashile about this, or even why he cared, but I thought he deserved it, since he saved me.

"Well, you'll see them on Visiting Day." He added.

"If they come..." I mumbled as I began walking back. We both knew it was a small chance that a human family would come to the vampire sector. It was practically a suicide mission for them.

For a long time, he let me walk alone. I didn't mind; I was ultimately alone wasn't I? I had to get used to it sooner or later, but then he surprised me by running up to me and grabbing my hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Of course I though he was asking about my emotional state, but his facial expression led me to believe he was asking about something else. He looked at the same hand I had cut in front of him before. It was scabbed over now, but it wasn't bleeding.

"Yeah?" I said, confused. At this time, the rest of the group finally caught up to us.

"Stop." Cashile called out, putting his hand up. The group slowed.

"What's going on?" I asked, but he ignored my question and walked forward. "Cas—"

"Shh." He silenced me and searched the forest floor for something. He was walking around scanning every detail of the forest, moving the dead leaves with his foot. It seemed like he wasn't going to find anything, but I was proved wrong when he moved leaves enough for me to see a grey, dead, face. Some girl from the group let out a scream.

"That's my sister!" she yelled, and people were holding her back. She collapsed to her knees as she cried.

Cashile moved the rest of the leaves off of the body and I could now see a stake sticking out of the dead girl's chest and I knew that it was the cause of death. If a vampire were staked through the heart it would be fatal.

"Oh my God." I covered my mouth with my hand in shock and Cashile continued to act strangely. He left the girl and walked around the woods quietly, like he was trying to listen for something.

Everything happened so fast after that. I heard a snap—no, not a snap—almost like a trigger was being pulled, and then a stake plunged through Cashile's chest. This time I screamed and ran toward him as he fell to the ground. He was sucking in air in short breaths.

My hands fluttered around his wound as I tried to figure out what to do. I looked at the stake. Taking it out seems like the most logical thing to do, but what if it was like a piece of glass? What if taking it out only made the bleeding increase? However, vampires are supposed to heal, right? _But not from a stake through the heart. _I thought and I noticed he wasn't staked through his heart; the stake went through his chest _on the right_, not the left. He would heal!

Acting on impulse I grabbed the stake and pulled it out. Cashile sucked in a sharp breath, groaned in agony, and then continued drawing in quick breaths.

"We need to get him back to the compound." I heard someone say.

"He needs blood." another person added.

"Can you walk?" I asked him. He nodded his head as much as he could and two guys—one of them was Alex—helped Cashile limp back to the vampire compound. As we were walking back, I heard a wolf howl. I looked back into the dark, foggy woods, but I saw nothing.

. . .

The two of them carried Cashile into his room where they laid him down on his bed. He moaned as he was lowered down. His wound was still visible and wasn't healing as fast as I would like.

"I'm going to stay here." I whispered to Alex as he walked past me.

"No. Allison, you don't have to. We can get one of the humans to come." He explained.

"He needs blood now, and I can give it to him. If he still needs it when the other human comes, they can take over." I pleaded.

Alex looked from Cashile to me. He knew that Cashile needed blood. "Fine, but be careful." He hugged me before I left.

I walked slowly over Cashile. "No." he moaned. He must have heard Alex and my conversation.

"You need it." I persisted and pushed my wrist toward him.

"No." he pushed my arm away and then pointed behind me. I craned my head around and saw that there was a small refrigerator sitting in the corner. I walked over to it and opened it. Inside I found several bags of blood; the same bags of blood that humans donated to the vampires.

I picked up the first two packets I saw in the corner and rushed back to him, giving him the first bag. With shaking hands he grabbed the bag from me, ripped it open with his teeth, and guzzled it down. He closed his eyes tightly as he sucked its contents out, and when he opened them again his eyes were red. Deep red, like the color of blood. He dropped the bag to the floor and started on the next one.

I picked up the crinkled package to throw it away, but the label caught my eye. The label read: **AB negative.**

I flattened the bag more: **Cooper, Allison. **It read.

I was wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong. The dark-eyed vampire didn't drink my blood, _Cashile did_. It made sense now, the way he acted when I cut my hand in front of him. He looked like he was about to pounce on me, but I figured that was just a natural vampire response.

I heard a knock on the door behind me and I jumped.

"Cashile!" A woman called out. He quickly turned his head to look at her. Instantly he looked relieved and he dropped the bag of blood and took her arm instead. She sat on the corner of his bed as he bit into her wrist.

The woman was in her fifties and she had coarse black hair with stings of grey. She looked tired and weak, and I could tell she cared about Cashile. Dark circles rimmed her eyes and she was pale. "Thank you." She said to me. _Thank you for what?_ I thought. Thank you for helping him? Thank you for getting her? Thank you for giving your blood to him all the time? Right now, I didn't know why she was thanking me, and all I concerned myself with was the fact that Cashile drinks my blood. Cashile has always drank my blood.

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	7. Secrets

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><p>Chapter 7:<p>

Not very surprisingly, we didn't have any other training after our run. So instead, we all just went to the dining hall for dinner. Alex and Christina were already sitting at a table and I walked over to sit with them. Alex's brother, Jaxon, was sitting at the table with us again; he and Alex were talking in a hushed tone, huddled together with Christina.

"What's going on?" I asked as I sat down. I didn't bother eating because I knew I wouldn't be able to stomach it. Anything I ate would just come right back up after what I saw, what I experienced.

"Cashile survived a staking?" Jaxon turned to me, bug-eyed.

"Yeah." Alex answered before me. "Straight through his heart, and he just walked away." The way he spoke the lies made me sick. It was almost like he wasn't even there and he was just using this event as an excuse to spread unimaginable lies about Cashile.

"See? This is just proof that he is something more." Jaxon whispered and he hit his hands on the table. Apparently Cashile is the juiciest gossip in the vampire sector; everyone wanted to know his deepest darkest secrets.

"Alex, what the hell are you talking about?" I finally asked. "You were there! He wasn't staked through the heart and you know it."

"So? It doesn't make any difference. There's still something suspicious about this whole thing." Christina added and then placed her hand over Alex's, defending him. Where did this come from? I guess I never really paid attention before, but are they _a thing_?

"So…don't go around spreading rumors that you know aren't true." I looked at both of them and my anger just grew. Why would they spread rumors? It just doesn't seem right to me, no matter who it was about. And what would they say if they found out Cashile drinks my blood? _The whole sector would be buzzing._

Feeling my blood pressure rising, I got up from the table and made my way to the bunks. No one would be there, and right now that appealed to me; I didn't want to see anyone. I just wanted to be alone.

I found my bed and quickly fell asleep; I didn't even hear anyone come in. I thought that meant I would sleep like a log, but I didn't. I tossed and turned as my mind flashed images of that stake going through Cashile's chest and then my name on the blood packet he drank from.

. . .

Our training was postponed for yet another day; so instead, everyone hung out with his or her friends. I didn't feel obligated to spend time with people like that –meaning vampires or mutts—right now; my emotions are still frazzled from everything that happened.

Even though there was a dining hall, a small kitchen was still provided for midnight snacks or other hunger emergencies. _Emergencies._ I laughed. _They don't know what hunger emergencies really are._

I walked into the small kitchen only to find the one person I didn't want to see: Cashile. Of course, he was in perfect condition; at least that's what it looked like from the outside. He was standing next to one of the stainless steel counters and pouring himself a mug of coffee. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a grey v-neck. His hair was wet and messy like he had just gotten out of the shower.

"This is the last place I thought I would see you." I said almost bitterly and walked past him into the kitchen. I told myself that I was going to have to confront him sooner or later, and right now seemed like a better time than talking about with all of the other initiates around.

He set the pot of coffee back onto the warming stand, keeping his eye on his drink. "That is both a racist and sexist comment." He turned to me and took a sip of his coffee.

I laughed a little and he smiled as he took the mug away from his mouth. "I thought vampires couldn't eat or drink regular food." I hopped up onto the counter and sat there.

"We can, most just don't prefer it. The same way _you_ don't prefer drinking blood." He paused. "I just like it for a flavor change." He shrugged.

My eyes found their way back to the counter and I saw a bag of blood. My heart skipped.

"It's O positive. It's not yours." He said. "I used all of that up last night." He took another sip of his blood infused coffee and then he walked closer to me.

Having him in such a close proximity to me made me nervous. "H-How are you, b-by the way?"

He placed his hands on either side of me on the counter. "You tell me. How do I look?" He played.

"Good." I said quietly.

"Thanks to you." He moved closer to me so that his face was inches away from mine.

"What about that other human that came in?" I hurried on.

"What about her?" he asked casually even though his body seemed to stiffen.

"It looked like you two knew each other."

"She's AB negative, the only human in the compound. I've always taken from her" he left the rest of the sentence hanging.

"When you run out of mine." I finished the sentence for him. He nodded slightly.

Acting one fear I rattled on. "Why was I chosen?" I spoke the words quickly, before my mind could register what I was saying.

Cashile cocked his head slightly to the side and raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Did you choose me because of my blood? So you could use me forever, like you use that other woman." Once again, I felt as if I had no control over the words that were coming out of my mouth. Whenever I was around him, I got nervous butterflies in my stomach. I knew he didn't like me, so what was stopping him from taking a bite out of me?

"How could I have chosen you? I wasn't even at the ceremony. Viktor was the one that chose you." Cashile stated.

My back straightened at the use of the vampire's name. "Wait, you know the vampire? Black hair, blue eyes, he was wearing a suit…"

He nodded his head in confirmation. "Viktor."

"Do you know where he is?" I asked, now incredibly intrigued.

A sly smile crept upon Cashile's face. "Maybe."

"So you do?"

"I didn't say that." He said, still smiling. He was acting like a child; he was completely immature, so I decided to try and bargain with him. I always got secrets out of Wes the same way.

"I'll tell you a secret if you tell me where he is." I said.

Cashile finally backed up a little bit and leaned one hand on the counter, intrigued by the proposal. "Fine. You first."

I took a deep breath. "Everyone out there is talking about you; they're spreading lies. They think you came back from the dead after being staked through the heart."

"Good." He said quickly.

"Good? They're spreading lies about you. Don't you care? Don't you want to stop them?" I asked.

"No." he snapped. "Do you know why? Those lies make me into something I'm not and they spread those lies because they fear me and it's because of that fear that they stay away from me, which is the way it should be."

"Why?"

"Because the second people get close, they learn the truth." His two-toned eyes scanned mine, like he just regretted what he said. He hung his head slightly before continuing. "I tried to push you away. The second I saw you I recognized your scent. I didn't want you to find out, but on that run, and throughout training, I slipped up." He looked quickly at the floor and then back at me.

"So that's why you were acting like a jerk to me?" I asked.

His eyes flashed a certain fierceness. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Allison. I need to keep you away."

"You don't have to hide it. We all have secrets. You don't have to keep pushing me away because of that." I laughed a little to try and release the tension. "I think me knowing about the whole blood thing is pretty big. I don't know what could beat that." I tried to reason and he clenched his jaw.

"There are still things that you shouldn't know, that I don't want you to know, at least not yet."

"Yet?" I asked.

"Yet." He turned around and was about to leave, but I called out.

"Wait," he turned around to look at me. "You haven't held up your part of the bargain yet. You never told me where Viktor is."

"He's not here." He said vaguely and then left the room. I walked out to the hallway to try and talk with him more, but he was gone.

Words could not describe how mad I was. Cashile knows where Viktor is, but he isn't here. So, where is he? Doesn't he have to live in the vampire sector? That's the whole point of the three sectors: we all live in our designated ones…don't we?

. . .

Since I didn't have to go to training today, I thought I might pay that human woman a visit. If Cashile wasn't going to tell me what was up, maybe I could get some answers from her.

It wasn't regular eating hours so no one was in the dining hall. The clicking of my training boots echoed throughout the walls as I approached the guarded feeding area. The same guard was posted outside. Why the humans needed a guard was beyond me. Maybe the humans tried to escape. Maybe the vampires broke in too often and needed control. Whatever was true, I needed a good excuse for him to let me through.

"Halt," He ordered. I stopped and looked at him innocently. "You can't go in there." He said.

I stepped forward and placed my hand over his shoulder. I tried to control my heartbeat so he couldn't detect my nervousness. "Are you really going to stop me?" I batted my eyelashes and stood on my tiptoes to whisper in my ear. "Cashile wanted me to meet him in here. Do you really want to disappoint him?" I walked my finger up his chest and he looked at me.

"Go on in." Grudgingly, he pushed a button and the metal door slid open.

"Thanks." I looked at him over my shoulder and I winked at him. His eyes moved down my body and he seemed to like what he saw making the corner of his lips turn into a smile. The door shut. I let out a breath as I rolled my eyes. _Were all vampires perverts_?

I was in a hallway that had metal doors on either side of me. Sounds of moans came from behind them. It didn't take a genius to figure out this was how mutts were made, through rape and selfish desires.

I swallowed hard and looked through the small glass windows to look for the woman that Cashile drank from. Many of the cells were being occupied and none of the humans fit the description I remembered, but I finally saw a woman with black coarse hair with grey stands. She was sitting alone. _This is her._

I twisted the latch and the door creaked open. The woman snapped her head up from a book she had been reading and quickly shoved it under her thin mattress. "Oh." She said when she recognized my face. "What are you doing here?" she asked. The tone in her voice wasn't cruel or demanding, it was concerned and mother-like.

"I need to talk to you." I said, entering the small cell and shitting the door behind me. "I need to talk to you about Cashile."

She shook her head slightly. "There's nothing for me to tell you."

"Please." I sat on the bed next to her and held her hand in mine. It was cool, but not as cold as a vampire's. Her wrist and neck were covered in bite marks.

She sighed and her warm, brown eyes softened. "He comes to see me often, but he doesn't always drink from me. It's not like that for him. Sometimes he just needs someone to talk to." She paused. "He talks about you a lot. It's nice to finally meet you properly." She smiled, making her face wrinkle. I smiled with her. "We are the only family we have left."

"What happened to his family?" I asked harmlessly, but I must have pushed too far because the woman stiffened.

"I-I'm sorry, you can't be here." She stood up now and opened the door for me. Reluctantly, I walked back into the hallway and the woman spoke up again. "If you want to know about Cashile, talk to him about it. He'll let you in when, and if, he wants to."

I sighed. "At least tell me your name."

"Joan." She said and shut the door, leaving me with more questions than answers.

Tomorrow was Visiting Day—our fourth day at the compound—so it was the time that family members gathered together, since it was about halfway through the training. At the end of the day everyone would be happy and laughing and telling stories, while I would be alone. I sighed as I dragged my fingers against the rock wall. I've never felt so…_lost _before. I prayed that my family would come; I knew they wouldn't, but I prayed they did.

As I walked down the empty hallway I hummed my human lullaby, out of habit, out of comfort.

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	8. Visiting Day

Chapter 8:

In the middle of the night—which was really the daytime since the days and nights are flipped—I found myself having to go to the bathroom so I walked to the locker room to relieve my duties. When I was finished, I walked back into the hallway, but just as I stepped out of the door, something crackled under my foot. I looked down to find a yellow piece of notebook paper. _Was that there before?_ When I picked it up I recognized the handwriting instantly and smiled.

**Meet me outside.**

I silently made my way through the empty hallway and up the swirling staircase, periodically checking over my shoulder for and onlookers. No one was up right now, but the lights were still on; they glowed from red to orange to yellow.

I walked over to the doors and opened them. It wasn't overwhelmingly sunny. In fact, it was dusk. The sun was just beginning to set and that sky was getting dark in the east.

Over in the corner, sitting on a rocky edge, was Danny. The fading sun created shadows on his defined jaw line making him look older and more masculine. I ran up to him and squeezed him in my arms. He returned the hug. His arms were strong, warm, and familiar.

"I missed you so much!" I whispered into his ear and then punched him playfully in the shoulder. "You're so stupid, you're going to get yourself killed."

"I missed you too." He said back as he laughed.

We let go of our embrace and sat down, facing the sunset. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I wanted to see you." He smiled. "It's your visiting day, isn't it? Bedsides, I wanted to come see you before…"

"Before what?" I asked. I don't know why I asked because I already knew the answer. _Before he was turned into a werewolf._

He looked out into the fading sun and fidgeted a little. "They're doing it tonight. They have to do it on a full moon."

I touched his arm. "Does it hurt?"

"I've heard the first transition is the worst, but it's not that bad." He shrugged. "I needed to see you before because those vamps would have sniffed me out the second I walked in here. It's still risky no matter what I do."

"Speaking of…how did you get in the compound?" I asked.

He smiled, pushed his hand through his blonde hair, and put his hand behind him for support. "Just a little trick I learned in our training. What, they haven't taught you how to jump the fence yet?"

I pushed my shoulder against his and smiled at him. "It's good to see you." I said. "At least someone came and saw me." I mumbled. His eyebrows went up. "It's our Visiting Day today." I explained.

"Yeah."

"Did your parents come and see _you_?" I asked, assuming that the werewolf and vampire schedules were different.

"Yeah, we had ours yesterday, you know, so they can see us while we're still human."

I hadn't even begun to think about my Turning Day, but now that it was in my mind, it was all I could think about. What does it feel like to be a vampire? How does it _really_ happen? How long did it take? _Who _would do it?

"Yeah that makes sense." I finally spoke up and moved some dirt around with my finger. "So what _really _made you come? Why did you come into 'enemy territory'?" I joked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. It's just… when I saw you the other day I mis—" He caught himself mid-word.

"Wait," I interrupted. "You _saw me_? What are you talking about?"

No answer.

"Danny, when did you see me?" I asked, with anger rising in my voice. Was Danny in the woods when we went running? I did hear a wolf howl, a _werewolf _howl.

"It was just a stupid initiation thing. I didn't know what we were doing." He talked like he wasn't involved, but something hung in his voice that made me think otherwise.

"You were there when they shot Cashile?" I interrogated.

"He's a vampire, Ally. A _vampire_. Do you know what he's done?" he started getting defensive now too. All innocence was lost in his voice; he knew what he had done, and it sounded like he didn't regret it.

"Do _you_ know what he's done? He saved my life from this awful, scumbag vampire."

"That doesn't change him from a lifetime of—"

"You don't know anything." I said, but what could I be sure of? I had no idea what Cashile's past was like, but I was one of them now. A vampire. I had to stand up for my sector and my new home.

"Ally." He tried to reason.

"Leave." I said harshly.

"You can't be—"

"You need to go _now_. I don't want to see you." I tried to hold back tears. I've known Danny my whole life; I didn't want him out of my life. I didn't want him to be my enemy, but that's what we were. We were both human (for now), but he was a werewolf and I was a vampire: enemies.

"Fine. I've already lost you to _them_; they've got you under their spell." He said quickly like there was a bitter taste in his mouth. Then, with that he jumped off of the rock, tuck and rolled, and ran off into the distance.

I stayed on the rock for a long time after the sun had set. It was nice being by myself; I found a small piece of happiness up here.

. . .

Being distracted with Danny, I was late for training. Everyone was in a line, Cashile stood in front of them in his usual stance. Straight back, with his hands folded behind him.

"It's so nice for you to finally join us, Allison." He said with a sarcastic smile. "Now that we are all here, we can begin. Go to your stations." He ordered and everyone scrambled. Today was set up differently than before. Today we had, ropes, swinging weights, and ladders shaped objects on the floor. "The best thing you can learn in any fight is defense. As soon as you learn to defend yourself, you can fight back. As some of you learned the other day, going for the obvious kill isn't always the best tactic." He looked around at the kids that had bruised arms and faces from sloppy fighting. "Strength never guarantees a win, whereas knowledge does." Cashile paused. I figured he was talking about the werewolves. Their strategy was based off of strength; if you were stronger than your opponent, you would win. Vampires think differently; they outsmart (and dodge) their opponent. "Be quick on your feet, both physically and mentally. Tomorrow we will practice what you have learned."

I thought about what he said as I stretched. _Be quick on your feet. _I'm quick on my feet; that's a good sign for me. I'm small; I can dodge the other muscular guys like Ethan. The only reason I lost before was because I got distracted. With a little practice, I might actually win a fight tomorrow. That first day of fighting wasn't punishment; it was practice. Wasn't it?

I walked over to the swinging weights ( which everyone else was avoiding) and tried to walk trough the maze without getting clobbered. No luck, I was spit right back out. Taking a deep breath and jumping up and down, I tried again. No luck. I landed on my back just outside of the entrance. I saw Cashile standing over me.

"That was pitiful." He laughed.

"Yeah? Well, you try it." I told him brushing dirt off of me.

"Fine." He walked to the line that signified the start and crouched his body into a starting position. "Tell me when."

"Go." I said, unenthused and angry.

With an inhuman swiftness and speed he entered the obstacles, arching his back and flipping onto his hands and diving and jumping and dodging; he made it out of the maze.

"Show off." I mumbled.

"Just keep practicing." He said as he walked away. "And maybe you'll get it."

I stayed at the obstacle course for all of training and as soon as Cashile called time, I kept trying. The more I failed, the more I got mad. I groaned and wiped the sweat off of my forehead. It felt as if there was always one more obstacle I needed to over come; no matter what, it seemed like I had to learn, yet another way to conquer the maze. If it wasn't the swinging one, then it was the rolling one; if it wasn't the rolling one then it was the fast one, and so on.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" I heard Cashile call out behind me.

"No." I kept my eyes focused on the maze, studying its patterns.

"But it's Visiting Day."

I finally turned to him and put my hand on my hip. "Do you really think my family is going to come see me? Because I don't." I felt a big lump start to form in my throat. _Don't cry. Don't let him see you cry. _I ordered myself.

"It sounds to me that you don't have that much faith in your family."

"I have plenty of faith in my family." I told him. "You have no idea what it's like for them. So stop patronizing me about it."

"I just thought you might like to know that I can tell that there are three strong, beating hearts in the plaza that are expecting you."

My hand dropped away from my hip and my legs didn't seem to be able move. "If you're lying to me…" I pointed a finger at him.

"I'm not." He said. "Everyone one deserves to see their family before their lives change." He paused. "Do you want me to come with you? In case anything happens."

He probably should, I mean, how many other times have three fresh humans come into the vampire sector? That other vampire nearly got what he wanted until Cashile walked into the room. Cashile would protect us. "Please?"

Cashile nodded and walked with me to meet my family.

We were in the same room that I first came in, the one where the train went through. The store shops were open, and people filled the area.

Mutts surrounded me everywhere with what seemed like their fathers. Even the mutts enjoyed Visiting Day because we couldn't really mingle with other people other than in the dining hall, and most of the time the 'parents' were somewhere else, feeding themselves. I assumed that the mothers didn't get a chance to ever see their children since the mothers were human; they were probably locked away somewhere. It was nice to see that they still had a small sense of family down here though.

Eventually, through the crowd of hugging people, I saw my parents. My mom was holding Wes on her hip, holding his head close to her, and they were looking around. They looked terrified.

"Mom!" I called out. "Dad! Wes!" I ran to them, Cashile close on my tail. They turned their heads and instantly their faces lit up.

"Ally cat!" Wes held out his arms to me and I hugged everyone at once.

"I missed you guys so much." I said to them, taking in their familiar, homey smell.

"We missed you too, honey." My mom said as we all let go of our embrace. She eventually noticed Cashile standing next to me. "And you are?"

He held out his hand for both of my parents to shake. "My name's Cashile. I've been training you daughter." He flashed a smile to try and seem friendlier, but neither of my parents seems comfortable with him yet.

"Cashile…" my mother thought out loud. "That's an interesting name."

"Oh, well, I changed it when I was turned. I haven't seen the need to change it back. This one is much more… suitable." He explained awkwardly. _I didn't know Cashile wasn't his real name._

My mother smiled slightly and then looked at me. "Um, he's here to make sure… you know, no one gets out of hand. You can trust him." I explained awkwardly too. I had only been in the vampire compound for four days, but somehow felt distant from my family.

He was making sure to smile; he wanted to come off as friendly. _He definitely didn't show me that when I first met him. _"And what's your name?" Cashile asked Wes.

Wes kept his head attached to my mother's shoulder. "His name's Wesley, but we call him Wes." I explained to Cashile.

"You don't need to be scared of me, Wes. I'm not going to hurt you, in fact…" Cashile dug in his pocket and pulled out a sliver coin. "I'll show you a trick. Do you want to see one?"

Wes nodded timidly. Cashile played with the coin in his fingers, twirling it between one another, he closed his fist, and when he opened it again, the coin was gone. This grabbed Wes's attention; he lifted his head to get a better view of what was going on. His small brows scrunched together, the same way that mine did.

Cashile reached behind Wes's ear and the coin appeared. Wes's eyes grew. "Ohmygoodness!" he said. I smiled. My father did that trick before. A lot of people knew that trick. It was the easiest way to win a child's admiration; they thought you were magical and you gave them free money. "How'd you do that?" Wes asked as he inspected the coin.

"Magic." Cashile stated.

"I didn't know vampires were magic." Wes said, making us all laugh. Then, all of the sudden, I felt relaxed. I felt like all of the tension that was between my family and Cashile seemed to vanish. They saw the same ray of light I saw in Cashile.

My family and I was going to go into the dining hall for a proper meal, and we invited Cashile to join us—since he said he kind of likes eating regular food—but he refused. He looked behind him into the crowd. "No thank you, I have somewhere to be." He said and walked away. I watched him as he walked and I saw him meet up with someone. Through the crowd, it was hard to see his face, but when I did see who it was, I recognized him instantly. Viktor. The same 'Viktor' that chose me. His eyes found mine for a second and he winked.

I wanted to go and talk to him, but I wanted to spend time with my family more. _I could always have Cashile talk to him sometime for me too._ I reasoned.

. . .

After my parents and Wes boarded the train, I waved goodbye and found myself in tears. Their visitation had been short, but at least it was something. I would give anything to see them more, but that just wasn't my reality anymore.

I tried to relieve my depression by going back out to the rock formation I had been at earlier today. The sun was just beginning to rise and I was tired. I figured it was probably better for me to sleep anyway.

I would have headed back in right away but something caught my eye. There was someone with a bike—a motorized bike. They were dressed in dark jeans and a leather jacket. No skin was showing except for their head.

I looked closer and recognized the dark-haired figure. Cashile.

He tied down a large bag onto the back of the bike and shoved water bottles into his backpack. There was a helmet with a shaded face shield on the seat of the bike and he put it on, now covering all exposed skin. He grabbed the handlebars and pushed the bike down the driveway. He didn't turn the bike on until he was far away from the compound and he drove away into the distance.

_Where is he going? The sun is about to rise. Is he going to be back in time for training? Why did he pack so much stuff?_

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><p><strong>You guys know what to do! :) REVIEW PLEASE, let me know what you think!<strong>


	9. What's in a Name?

Chapter 9:

The next day at training, Cashile was still nowhere to be found, but luckily for him, the vampire representatives were happy to take over for him; they wanted to see our skills anyway, so it was win-win. We had the same people come in, two older men, and the same vampire that tried to bite me—I recently learned that his name was Seth. I made a mental note to be wary of him, but it was strange, the way he was acting today, he was almost sheepish. _Cashile couldn't have shaken him up that bad._ Seth even threatened me when he left. His ice-cold threat still lingered in my mind, '_see you in a week'_. His strange attitude definitely wasn't because he was scared of Cashile. So what was it?

The older vampires ordered us into stations and we got to work. I stood in front of a black leather punching bag, but occasionally looked over my shoulder. Everything seemed more interesting over there, watching the vampires. I studied them, their graceful movements. I made sure they didn't catch me looking, but that they caught me punching the bag instead. I had to make a good impression.

I kept glancing over my shoulder and I soon found out why Seth was acting so weird. Whenever Seth was around the older vampires, he stayed quite. It's almost like he was… afraid of them. Whenever the older vampires were around, Seth kept his head down, like a dog tucking its tail behind its legs.

I know that the older representatives are, like, really old (which means they are also really powerful), but were they so much more powerful that they made a cocky vampire like Seth cower behind them. No, not cower, cower isn't the right word; he was staying back, trying to stay out of their radar. Seth didn't respect them, that's for sure, but he also knew not to get into a fight with them.

The two older vampires are some of the remaining vampires from before the war. There weren't too many to begin with, but there were still a good amount. Some of the pre-war vampires died in battle, and most of them ran away after it was over to live on their own, so only a few remained in the Vampire Compound, and most of them have high leadership roles now. The pre-war vampires are the strongest, fastest and most powerful; I can understand why Seth would be afraid of them. They were not to be messed with.

And being the oldest also meant they were usually the oldest physically, not just vampire age. The only other people that were old in physical age were the mutts that didn't make it through the first round of training, so they were turned when they were 30 or so. These vampires were the least respected; they were thought of as being the weakest. That is what I wanted to avoid; I needed to be turned this week if I wanted people to respect me.

. . .

After a long day of training, I felt successful. The vampires seemed to be impressed by my improvement, which is a good sign. Good signs haven't been coming around that often.

After I had showered and ate dinner, I needed some alone time. I missed my family. Seeing them again was great, but it only made the hole in my heart bigger. I can't stand being away from them so long, and the only time I feel like I might be getting over them is when I'm around Christina or Alex, but they were still acting weird. Not to mention Cashile's random disappearance.

The more I thought about all of the unanswered questions about Cashile, the angrier I got. He _had_ told me he had a lot of secrets, but what was _so big_ that he had to keep it from me, and the rest of the compound for that matter? I needed answers, and if there was one thing I was good at as a human, besides running, it was studying. I was always at the top of my class in school.

I walked to the library. There was something that most people used that was called a 'computer lab', but we never had computers in the human compound and I didn't know how to work them, so I decided on the library.

The lights were off. No one was in there. Dust made the library look like it hadn't been occupied in a long time. I turned the lights on with my finger and the blue tinted overhead lights flickered to life, giving off an eerie buzz. I started in the area where all of the records of the vampires were. It was no surprise that the vampires kept a tight-knit record of every event, the only problem is that most of the recording is done digitally now.

I searched through the "C" names and found nothing, and I soon realized that everything was organized by last name. My shoulders slumped. I don't know Cashile's last name, hell, I don't even know his real name.

_That's it!_

I ran over to where some encyclopedias and dictionaries were and viciously flipped through pages. "C… C… Ca…Cas…" I repeated to myself as I scanned the page. Cashile had told my parents that his name was changed when he was turned. He said that it was 'more appropriate'. Whatever that meant, probably had something to do with the _meaning_ of his name.

My finger trailed down the page until I found it.

**Cashile: _(name) _an African Zulu name often meaning "hidden" or " child of concealed at birth"**

I sat back in my chair. _This doesn't help me. This just tells me he chose this name because he is hiding something. _I closed the heavy book and turned in my chair to put it away, only to find Cashile leaning against the doorway. I ended up dropping the book from shock and Cashile sped over to pick it up.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"What are _you_ doing here? Why weren't you at training?" I interrogated.

"I had to take another personal day off. I figured that I started to train too soon, that stake through the chest really got me down."

"Bullshit. What were you really doing?" I asked.

"I told you, I took a personal day off. I'm allowed to do that you know." He handed me the book I dropped and I put it back on the table.

"Well, you shouldn't because everyday you're gone is another day I have to put up with Seth." I explained.

His body suddenly grew tense. "What did he do to you?"

"Nothing." I said, bewildered by his reaction. "He just hid behind the other vamps like a little puppy. I knew they were powerful, but I didn't know they were _that _powerful."

"Well, they _are_ the oldest." He defended.

"What about you?" I asked.

"What about me?" he mused.

"Why are you so powerful? Everyone thinks that you're some crazy vamp/werewolf hybrid, but that's not even possible, right? And you're not _that_ old, you came into the compound four years ago." I rattled out my questions.

Cashile laughed. "That's what they think I am?" He laughed some more. "Well, I'm here to tell you I'm nothing special, and you're right, I'm not old." He started to turn to walk away, still laughing at the ridiculousness of the rumors.

"Wait." I called out softly; there was still one more question I needed to ask him. "Why did you change your name?"

He was quiet for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. "It's seemed more appropriate; it has more meaning."

"But, _why_? Why did you choose 'Cashile'?" I asked.

He looked at the all of the books that surrounded me, understanding that I knew the true meaning of the name. "I told you, I have a lot of secrets, and I rather keep them _hidden_ from everyone else."

"You said that you thought you would let me in. So, now's your chance. Tell me where you went yesterday." I crossed my arms.

"I didn't go anywhere. I was here the whole time." He lied.

"I saw you get on that bike and ride away… In the daytime! What's so important that you needed to leave the compound in the daytime?"

Cashile took in a deep breath. His two-toned eyes softened. "You're not going to give any of this up are you?"

"Nope."

"I went somewhere, you're right." He admitted, nodding his head slightly.

"Where?"

"I went to see Viktor." He explained quickly.

"That's it? What about all of the supplies you packed?" I kept pushing questions at him.

Cashile looked behind him at the clock. "Look, it's getting late. You need a good night's sleep for training tomorrow." He avoided my question.

"But—" I interjected.

"Now is not the time, Allison." he pushed me away softly.

"When _will_ be the time? You keep saying you'll tell me, but you just keep avoiding everything." I threw my arms up in the air.

He sighed. "You just…_don't_ understand. It's complicated and it's better if you stay out of it. Just go to bed." His voice kept on getting more and more frustrated until finally he walked out of the room.

Defeated, I sat back down and stared at the books. _What was so big in Cashile's life that he couldn't tell me? _I already knew about the blood thing, and I don't know how much more _personal_ things could get between us. Why couldn't he just tell me? He said it was complicated, but what does that mean?

I held up my head with my hand and flipped through the pages in front of me. Even though I was tired, these books held some very interesting information, even information from _before_ the war.

I read about the time called the "Renaissance", a time full of art and the individual, a time where everyone was free to express themselves and a time where people weren't held in different sectors. I loved it all; I wanted to live in that era, not this one. At least in that time period people stayed in the "sector" they were born in.

In one of the books I read about the vampire culture. I found out that vampires _can_ go out in the sun, but it's bothersome to their eyes and their skin. It turns out that their eyes are like a human's when they are dilated, so when vampires go out in the sun it is extremely bright.

I found that the more I read, the heavier my eyes felt; it was a hassle just to keep them open, so I decided that I might as well go to bed.

I put all of the books back where I found them and looked at the red digital numbers on the clock. 3:34. I had to get up in 4 hours. Great.

I was walking through the hallway back to my room when I noticed someone was in the boy's locker room. It sounded like they were using the shower, and I could see the steam coming out from the door. I would have walked right past the locker room, but I heard someone singing. _Singing? No one sings outside of the human sector._ The humans sing because it's our source of happiness, calmness and peace. It's a reminder that we are (somewhat) safe from all of the monsters outside.

I recognized the lyrics.

"_You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now,_

_Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound..."_

The male's voice was smooth, liquid, and familiar as he sang the lyrics of the human lullaby, completely oblivious to anyone ease dropping on him. His voice seemed to float around with the steam, airy and light. Who would be singing that? How would they know the lyrics? How would they know the tune? How?

I tried to reason. Maybe they overheard one of the imprisoned humans singing it. Maybe they overheard _me_ singing it, but I never really sang the _lyrics_ in front of anyone, I always _hummed_ the tune.

The curiosity in me seemed to move my feet for me and forced me to walk into the locker area. On one of the benches I saw a pile of clothes. Instantly my heart dropped.

They were the same clothes I saw Cashile wearing earlier today.

I looked over to the showering area and saw his wet, black hair. There was a brick wall that was, fortunately, covering his lower body (I did not want to see any of that right now…)

As I walked closer he must have heard my feet padding against the tile because he turned his head. Water traveled over his two-toned eyes as he looked at me, surprised by my presence. His face looked defeated, like he had given up.

"Cashile…?" I kept walking slowly to him, but he stayed silent. "What were you before you were a vampire?" I asked.

"A mutt. Just like everyone else." He said quietly.

"Don't you dare lie to me." I said with authority in my voice.

Cashile hung his head, turned off the water to the shower and put a towel around his waist. I'd never seen his body before, but now I could tell that it was defined. His abdomen and arms were both enveloped with muscles, but not as extreme as a werewolf. He definitely had to work hard to get a body like that.

He made a motion with his head that offered for me to follow him. Before we left the locker room, he looked around to make sure there was no one following us. "I think my room is a better place to discuss this." He said as he led me through the hallway.

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><p><strong>Ba Ba BUM! Who guessed it?<strong>

**P.S. sometimes i choose names (not all) based on their meanings so with Cashile i chose the name because it means hidden and concealed at birth (which i will explain more in the next chapter)... and also i chose the name Seth because in mythology it means Chaos and the one who dazzles... i'll just let you ponder about what's to come in the future ;D**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	10. Miller Murders

**sorry for the wait, it was prom weekend and mother's day, and a buttload of homework that delayed this chapter :/ ... but here it is! i know you all have been dying to find out what happens? ...sorry if there's any typos (i did a fast edit)**

**this may be a confusing chapter since there is a lot of info thrown at you pretty fast... if it's confusing to you and rereading doesn't help, feel free to PM me :) i like chatting with y'all.**

**ps. notice i changed my icon to 'Cashile'... ugh isn't he hotttt!**

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><p>Chapter 10:<p>

Cashile held his door open for me as I walked in. he shut it and locked it behind me, sending a bubble of panic through me. I took in deep breaths to try and center myself. Now that I wasn't trying to save him, I could really take in the details of his room. The walls were rock, like everywhere else; he had a queen bed that had white sheets with a forest green comforter. The mini fridge (full of blood) still stood in the same spot; there was a bedside table and a dresser. Other than that, his room was pretty empty.

As I was observing everything, my hands shook—halfway scared, halfway anticipating what Cashile was about to tell me. He rushed past me in a blur and pulled on a pair of dark jeans and his signature, plain, v-neck; his hair was still wet and it dripped slightly onto his shoulders leaving little dark circles on his shirt. Slowly he walked over to his bed, leaving me standing, and he sat down, putting his head in his hands. He kept on breathing in air, like he was going to speak, but he couldn't find his words, but finally he spoke. When he lifted his head, his wet hair was slightly tousled from running his hand through it. "Do you know about the Miller Murders?" he asked, his voice soft, almost like he didn't want to be overheard.

I was about to say no, but my gut told me that was a lie. The name 'Miller' resonated in my head, but I couldn't remember why. I knew I had heard the name before, but where?

Then, it finally clicked. _The Miller Murders._ I vaguely remember the story; I was young when they happened and my mother retold it to me when I was very little, and humans didn't talk about it very much because it was a gruesome reminder of how repulsive the vampires are.

I was too little to remember exact details, but it was about 16 years ago.

It was a normal day in the human compound. No one suspected anything to happen, but it did. There was a small girl's scream and everything unfolded from there. Families came out of their houses to inspect the noise, people carrying food from the market gathered in silence. The house that it came from was one of the larger ones that didn't have a tin roof, and then a blonde vampire emerged from the house with blood across his face, dragging a small dark haired girl by the hair, and threw her towards the humans. Her pale, limp body laid in-between the humans and him. The father of the family tried to fight the vampire, but it was no use, the vampire was too strong, and he snapped the father's neck. The mother came out then and fell to her knees, crying over the deaths and there was a small boy that hid behind her. The vampire grinned, anticipating his next kill, but another one came by with his fangs bared. He ordered something in a foreign language and the attacking vampire growled and then took the mother as the other took the son. The humans both cried out for each other. Both of the vampires left after that, leaving the bodies as a gruesome reminder of just how powerful and cruel the vampires are. They would kill any one, no matter who, or how many people were watching.

It was a short amount of time before I realized why Cashile asked me about the murders. The pieces slowly started to come together. _Cashile was the little boy_; it explains how he knows the human lullaby. It's no surprise that I didn't realize this before. After all, he had grown up, he changed his name and he changed species. And I never talked with his family for two reasons: he was older and they were richer. "Rich" meaning they could afford food for their family every night. So it makes sense that I wouldn't have made the connection.

When Cashile finally spoke up again he was staring at the ground; he must have realized I figured his secret out. "I was six when Viktor took me from my mother." He added bitterly. "He allowed the other vampire to go ahead and kill my mother, but I made a deal with him." Cashile paused and looked at me. "I told Viktor that he could make me into a weapon, to use at his disposal, only if he allowed my mother to live."

"And?" I asked, curious about what happened to his mother.

"He kept his word, but I should have been more careful with my request; I should have been more specific." He took the heel of his hand and rubbed it against his forehead in frustration. "She lives here."

"_Here_? How? Where?" Before I even finished asking my questions, I knew the answers. Cashile's mother was one of the imprisoned humans. Cashile's mother was Joan—the only other AB negative human in the compound.

"I was so stupid." He said into his hands. "I should have let her die. It would have been better for her than what she has to go through now."

"You don't mean that." I sat down next to him on his bed and put my arm around his back. It was strange the way he didn't radiate heat like humans did and it was extremely eerie how… dead he felt, but he isn't dead; he's here, talking to me. "You need her, just as much as she needs you." I continued, pushing away any thoughts on what it's like to be a vampire.

"The only thing that protects her from being killed is the fact that her blood is so rare, and I need it." Cashile lifted his head again. "And that's why I push everyone away. No one can know she and I are related. No one. Do you know how many people have a grudge with me? They hate me because I'm Viktor's favorite, his prodigy." He laughed a little. "No, 'hate' isn't the right word… they're _jealous_ of everything I can do. They would do anything just to get under my skin."

He was right; a lot of people didn't like Cashile and would love to find his Achilles' heel. All of the information Cashile was spilling out was overwhelming, I didn't know how I was able to process all of it, but I did, and something didn't seem right. If Cashile was really a human before he was turned, how come he is so powerful? Mutts are the most powerful once they became vampires, not humans. "Cashile, why _are_ you so powerful?" I asked.

"Humans make better vampires than mutts."

"But that doesn't make any sense. Mutts are stronger, and they only get stronger when they become a vampire."

"No," he shook his head. "that's the big misconception; it's only true with werewolves, not vampires. The reason why humans are better is because once our body is turned, it has larger amount of human blood for our body to 'feed' from, ultimately making us stronger." He explained. I must have had a huge question mark look on my face because he continued. "Think of it this way, all of the old vamps, the reps, Viktor… they're all vampires that were turned before the war; they all were humans and they are the strongest."

That _did_ make sense. _Does that mean that I will be extremely powerful too?_ "How come no one has caught on to this before?"

"Because all of the vampires are arrogant fools that are power hungry."

"Well if there are power hungry, then why haven't the older vamps shared this information with them?" I asked.

"The older vampires are wise. They have been alive a lot longer than you or I can imagine. If the secret got out, vamps would try and turn as many humans as they could to use in an attack against the werewolves. A war would break out, but what the vampires wouldn't consider is that they need humans to survive. They would go ahead and turn hundreds of humans, but they would run out of blood. They don't understand that we need to coexist. If the humans all die, we all die."

So the vampires and werewolves _are _planning a war. "How long have you known about this? The war, I mean."

He shrugged. "Isn't it obvious?" his smile curved up in one corner. "The werewolves already attack me, and killed that other girl."

So Cashile knew about the werewolves attacking. I felt a twinge of guilt, knowing that Danny was part of the whole ordeal. I needed to change the subject. "What about the other day. Where did you go?"

"I actually told you the truth about that." He smiled. It was nice to see him smile; he had a nice smile. "I went to see Viktor."

"Viktor doesn't live in the vampire compound?"

"No."

"Does he live with the other vampires that fled after the war?" I continued to interrogate.

"Nope." The playful tone in his voice starting coming back now.

"Are you going to tell me what you did, or are you going to make me play twenty questions with you?" I started getting a little irritated.

"Games are fun." He said. "And you look so cute when you're frustrated." He said halfway joking, halfway serious.

_Cute? _I shook my head back and forth to try and remember why I was questioning him. "Where did you go?"

"It's not important."

"It is to me. If you know where Viktor is then I want to know. I need to know why he chose me because let's face it, we both know it wasn't because of my physical abilities."

Cashile's face softened. "That's why you want to see him?"

"Yes!"

He sighed. "I can't take you to him now; maybe sometime later it will work out, but for now you are just going to have to let it go."

"You promise?" I asked.

"Promise." Cashile rested on one hand, and leaned closer to me until his lips fell onto mine, making my lips tingle. His were cold in contrast to mine, soft, and delicate like he thought I would break me he pushed too hard. His other hand caressed my hip and pulled me into the kiss. I mimicked his silky motions by weaving my hand through his dark hair and I pushed harder into his lips. My heart was beating fast, leaving butterflies in my stomach. I was kissing a vampire. This is wrong, but it _feels_ right. He pulled slightly away, leaving me breathing hard and heart racing. His forehead still touched mine as he spoke. "I wanted to tell you so many times, about me, but I couldn't. No one can find out." He whispered.

"Turning humans… your mother… I get it. I won't tell anyone." I whispered back and then continued to kiss him. I don't know why I enjoyed his kiss so much. Maybe it was because I finally had someone to relate to. Maybe it was because I actually liked _him_. Whatever reason, I like it.

Much too soon, Cashile pulled away and smiled. "Sorry."

I blushed a little. "It's fine."

"No, um, I have to stop. It's been a while since I've fed." He explained awkwardly. If he wasn't a vampire I swear he would blushed then too.

"Oh." I said uncomfortably. "Do you want me to leave?" I pointed my thumb towards the door.

"No."

"Are you sure I'm not making it worse?" I turned to walk away.

"No," he gently grabbed my wrist and traced the blue lines of my veins. "I like having you near me. It …helps."

"How?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, you're right, it doesn't, but I don't want you to go." He smiled.

"You know, you're a lot nicer to me now than you were in training." I sat back down by him.

"I don't need to push you away anymore; you know everything now… well, not everything, but we'll get there eventually." He smiled again and kissed me.

I broke the kiss even though I didn't want to. I was hungry for knowledge. "You said that Viktor found you, and used you… What happened between then and when you were turned?"

Cashile clenched his jaw for a moment. "I trained. The same way you train, except my training wasn't a week long, it was 12 years. My eighteenth birthday happened to fall on a choosing year so he turned me then and corrupted the records of my origin. No one knows where I came from because he wants to keep it that way because of the chaos that could unfold because of it."

"Is Viktor the one that does all of the turning?"

"No, it's usually random to ensure that no vampire has too many 'offspring'."

"Offspring?" I asked.

"A vampire and their _offspring _usually end up sharing something in common; there's a bond that they share. If a vampire is in trouble, the sire will know because of the blood they share, which also means that a sire has a certain amount of control over the person they turned."

"And if one vampire has too much power, that would be extremely bad." I finished the thought for him, understanding where he was going with it.

"Exactly."

"Everything is about power here isn't it?"

"Not just here. Everywhere. The werewolves are territorial and wild, the vamps always want to be the most powerful and the war broke out because the humans refused to believe there were beings higher than them. It's only a matter of time before the next war breaks out." He said seriously. The way he was talking made it sound like he had been considering this for some time, which made me even more concerned. _What if he was right? What am I talking about? Of course he's right. All three sectors are unstable right now; war is imminent._

"I'm afraid." I admitted, but I left out the details. I'm afraid for me. I'm afraid of becoming a vampire. I'm afraid for my family. I'm afraid for Cashile and his mother. I'm afraid for us. _Us? There is no us? Is there? _ He and I are the only humans that were chosen to be turned; we have to stick together. We understand what humanity is and how important it is to retain.

"I know." He said softly, running his cool hand through my hair, looking me in the eye. "Me too."

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><p><strong>What do you think? Opinions? Comments? Concerns? REVIEW PLEASE! <strong>


	11. Last Chance

**kind of a shorter chapter... but i expect the next few chapters to be long :) **

**i hope you like it.. not much action, but like i said.. the next ones will be good!**

**ENJOY**

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><p>Chapter 11:<p>

I counted the days in my head and then on my fingers because they all seemed to blur together with training, everything to do with Cashile, and just plain old stress. I had to start over several times as I put out a finger to signify each day.

Six. This is my sixth day in the vampire sector. It scared me that I had fewer and fewer days left being a human. Turning Day is in two days. Final Training is tomorrow. Last chance training is today.

I felt confident though. My weak skills have gotten stronger and my strong skills have gotten even stronger. I reasoned that if I was chosen from all of the humans on Choosing Day, then there must be something special that the vampires want. _There must be. _The humans are the sector which have the most people, and vampires have the least; so, statistically speaking, my odds were never good to begin with, yet I was still chosen. Hopefully my luck transfers over.

The pounding on the metal door made me jump. Whoever was behind it twisted the latch and let themselves in. I saw Christina's orange hair contrasting with the darkness behind her. "Training time. Let's go!" she called.

I ran with a little skip in my step to catch up with her, loving the fact that for a moment I could forget about my huge problems and be girly with her and talk about boys. Luckily, Alex wasn't attached to her hip because I needed to talk about him with her. She raised an eyebrow at my strange behavior, her cat-like eyes studying me. "What are you so peppy about?"

"When were you going to tell me about you and Alex?" I nudged her shoulder.

Her eyes looked around for a lie for a moment, but she gave up and smiled. Normally she comes off as having a hard exterior, but every once and a while she would peel it back, and it was nice seeing her smile for once; it was probably because we were talking about Alex. The only other time I saw her smile was _with_ Alex. "He and I… we've always been friends. We just grew closer during training, that's all."

"Mmm hmm." I said with a singsong voice. I have to admit I'm a little disappointed that she didn't share this information with me earlier, but I had to be nonchalant about it because (maybe) someday I will have to tell her about the kiss that Cashile and I shared and then I will say 'we just grew closer in training, that's all'. I smiled at the thought of it.

We entered the training room together and stood in a line with the rest of the trainees. Christina stood next to Alex and he smiled at her. _At least some people can still be happy._

As soon as everyone showed up, Cashile began, talking in his authoritative, strict tone. The same tome he always used inside the training room. "This is your last day to clean up anything you have weaknesses in. Make sure you stand out in front of the vampire choosing council." His voice grew in seriousness, making him seem more vampire than human. "Make. Them. Remember. You." His eyes scanned the crowd as he talked and they stopped on me only for a second and then continued scanning; it's a good thing that I caught it because it was extremely subtle. A subtle reminder that I need to stick out; I need to make them remember me: a _human_.

It's also a good thing it was subtle because if people suspect something between us they'll assume he's favoring me, or worse, they'll find out about his humanity.

During training, sweat dripped off of my face more than it ever had before. Cashile had us doing push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and every other kind of "ups" he could possibly think of. My muscles are burning so badly I don't how I am going to be able to move tomorrow; I could hardly move today!

It was strange seeing Cashile as an authoritative figure again because he and I became so much closer last night, whether or not that turns into something…I'll just have to wait and find out.

I walked over to the drinking station in the corner and filled a paper cup with the ice-cold water, breathing hard, cheeks flushed. Ethan came walking toward me. My body stiffened and I swallowed hard. I placed the cup back in my designated area and kept my eyes down.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice slithering uncomfortably around me.

"Nothing." I spat back. I turned around to see his other half, Jade, still practicing ruthlessly. She was practicing with knives and a dummy that was looked eerily similar to my size. I also looked to make sure I knew where Cashile was, just in case any fight broke out between Ethan and I, he could come break it up. Cashile was standing across the room, observing, with his arms crossed, pacing the room, but still attentive to his surroundings, as always.

"Jade and I have been watching you and we've been thinking that we might like you on our side." He gave me a feral smile.

_What? _"On your side?" I questioned, genuinely taken by surprise.

"Yeah," he leaned his hands on the edge of the table facing the fighting area. "those two," he gestured to Alex and Christina. "they're weak." He seemed to growl between his teeth, like they were considered his prey.

"You don't think they'll make it?" I asked. _I_ had faith in them; neither of them particularly stood out, but they _were_ strong enough to be turned.

"No and they're only bringing you down. They don't even drink blood yet." His voice was full of judgment and disgust. "If you want to spend the rest of your life in that human feeding tank, that's fine with me," he leaned in closer "but if you want to be a _vampire_, then you should stick with us. "

"No thanks." I shrugged him off. He obviously wanted something that had to do with me. My blood? My…body? I don't know, but the way he was begging for me to join him and Jade concerned me. _Did he know that humans make stronger vampires? _He would find out when/if I become one, when I was stronger than him, but maybe he didn't have to find out; maybe I could mask my strength. _No. _I thought to myself. I _have_ _to _push away these thoughts; I don't know for sure what is going to happen. I don't know if I will be chosen to be turned into a vampire.

"_No thanks?_ You're nothing without us." He snarled, but a part of him was disappointed, I could tell.

"I said no. thank. you." I said firmly. Grudgingly, Ethan walked back to Jade and continued to work out. I let out a little triumphant smile. He had no idea the affect he had on me. I bet he thought his negative, harsh words about my failure would get under my skin and ruin my performance, but little did he know his words only motivated me to work harder. I need to prove him wrong, and everyone else that doubts me; it's the only way to keep them from teasing me ever again.

At the end of the day it seemed like everyone limped out of training, exhausted. Cashile stayed behind to clean up everything for tomorrow. I walked over to help him and he didn't even have to look up to recognize me.

"What did Ethan talk to you about?" he said, keeping his head down and voice uninterested, just in case somebody was listening or watching.

I looked at him skeptically. "You didn't overhear?" I asked, knowing that his vampire hearing was much better than mine.

"Okay, I did, but I want your opinion." He said quietly. He grabbed a rag and slung it over his shoulder as he faced me, his black hair shagging over his forehead; it only reminded me of the Cashile I knew out of training. During training, and around other people, all I see him as is my instructor, my elder, and my protector; I don't think of him as a friend, or a _boyfriend _for that matter.

"I think it's weird that he wants me so bad, you know. It almost seemed like he was about to beg. You don't think he knows, do you?"

"It's hard to tell. He and Jade are conniving little bastards, but I don't think either of them would believe you would ever be stronger than them." He whispered.

"Do _you_ think I'll make it through?" I asked.

"Of course." He said sincerely walking closer to me, holding me by the hip. "You've grown tremendously, and plus every vampire on the council knows about the whole 'human scenario'."

"But what if they don't pick me because they are afraid the rest of the compound will catch on?" I asked.

Cashile's face tightened like he hadn't given any of that thought before. "_If _that happens, then I will keep you with me, make it so that no other vampire can touch you, just like they can't touch my mother." He traced his finger along my jaw line, his gorgeous green and brown eyes staring into mine. "It will be okay."

"and if it's not?" I asked, worrying, yet again, about my future

"I have a Plan B." he smiled.

"I think you mean Plan C." I corrected, considering the all too likely scenario where a vampire gets out of hand and kills me because of his previous plan. "What is that exactly?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Just try and get a good night's rest tonight." He leaned in and kissed me softly, pulling me closer with his hand. I had forgotten how much our lips contrasted and the coldness, once again, took me by surprise. "I have faith in you." He reassured. Little did he know that only made me more nervous; I don't want to let him down.

. . .

As I walked into the dining hall, I noticed the people around me more than I ever did before. The vampires all had their silver thermoses that they always drink from, but there were only a handful of vampires in the dining hall because of the live feeding area. The mutts laughed and talked to each other like normal teenagers. Small children mutts ran around playing tag (it's amazing how they rarely got tired). And lastly, as I was walking up to the counter to get my meal, I noticed the older mutts—the ones that never passed training. The rejects. The worthless.

Mutts, ranging from their thirties to seventies, were lined up along the serving line with aprons and hair nets, attending to everyone else's needs. Some were washing tables and some were, I assumed, in the kitchen preparing meals. There weren't that many unturned mutts because it wasn't supposed to be that difficult for them to pass training, and yet, none of them did. I couldn't help but wonder what went wrong.

One of them handed me my tray food. "Thank you." I said quietly, trying not to make eye contact. Looking at their tired, overworked eyes reminded me just how easy it was for me _not_ to get chosen.

"You're welcome." The male spoke up for the first time, cheerier than I expected. "Good luck tomorrow." He added. At that moment I did look up at him and saw a warm smile on his face. I didn't say anything back to the mutt because I was confused by his comment. It wasn't that I didn't like it—and I did—but it was just odd that he was talking to me. I've never heard any of them say anything before; that's why I didn't notice them before.

After that, I simply turned around to sit with Alex and Christina. Jaxon wasn't there tonight, but was sitting with some of his vampire friends instead. Since my vision was in that general direction, I saw Cashile sitting at one of the round tables all by himself. Alone.

He rolled the bottom of his thermos in a circle, staring blankly at it, only drinking from it occasionally. He had said that he wanted to keep people away in order to preserve his secrets and that he preferred it that way, but I could see that he was miserable. He had no friends. He hand no family except for his mother, and he was surrounded by the one thing he hated the most: vampires. They killed his family and they turned him; he never wanted to be like this but it was his only choice.

I couldn't help but wonder: _is this what it was going to be like for me? No_. No, we will have each other. Even if nothing happens between us, we will still have each other because of where we came from. That's the only thing we'll have.

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><p><strong>Review Please! Let me know what you think! :)<strong>

**ps. i think i am going to starting working either this coming week or later... so the chapters may not come weekly (like i've been trying to to) but i promise i will update as soon as i feel the chapters are ready!**


	12. To be a vampire, or not to be

**i know some of you think this story is similar to Divergent so i've got some things to say to that:**

**1. i was originally going to put this in the crossover section but i ultimately decided not to because technically the characters are mine and this will be my own story.. i was just inspired to make a vampire themed version of Divergent**

**2. the story is not going to end the same way**

**3. some of the scenes are similar to Divergent (like the fight club chapter) but i swear that was just my subconscious at work because i did not plan for that to be similar.. and all other similarities are just coincidences. sorry.**

**i promise that i didn't intentionally make my story similar to Divergent. i read the story and was inspired to make a vampire/werewolf version of the sectors.. sorry for any coincidences **

**p.s. you WILL see more werewolf action soon :)**

**sorry for the late update... i worked five day in a row this week... ugh... i'll keep trying to make this weekly :)**

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><p>Chapter 12:<p>

Surprisingly, the night before Final Training I actually slept. It wasn't long, but I slept. I dreamt of my family and the only reason I knew it was a dream is because we were all _together_ in the house I used to run to—the one with the running water. Somehow the house had been reconstructed and it no longer slanted or creaked. The outside was painted a light grey and the trimming was white. The porch was painted white as well and was completely restored. My mother and father were sitting in chairs there together, holding hands, and looking much younger, like worry hadn't aged them at all.

Shane, Wes and I sat in the spongy yard and played in it, laughing, without a care for the world. Across the green yard and dirt path was the fence. I was too caught up with playing with Wes and his toy truck to notice Shane had gotten up. I saw him staring past the fence.

"_Shane?" _I called out, but he kept on looking at the fence with his back facing me. I heard a wolf howl and he tilted his head. There was another howl, this time much closer. Wes kept on pushing his truck along the grass, but I grabbed him by the shoulders and held him closer. Another howl, closer still, this time with growling attached. "_Shane?" _I asked with panic in my voice. I looked around to look at my mother and father and as soon as I did, they grew frightened. My father lunged off of his chair and grabbed Wes away from me. He took Wes back up to the porch, away from me, like I was some kind of monster. I frantically turned around to look back at Shane.

The wolves had now approached the fence with their teeth bared. There were white ones, grey ones, black ones, and brown ones, all with amber eyes that locked onto me.

"_Here she is!" _Shane cried, pointed back at me. "_Here's the vampire!" _his voice was full of disgust and hatred.

"_No!"_ I cried. I'm not a vampire! What is Shane talking about?

The wolves backed up a few feet and then sprinted toward the fence. With a supernatural force, they leapt over the fence and landed fiercely in front of me. One of the lighter color wolves started stalking me. It had light green eyes—_familiar…_ light green eyes. _Danny!_

"_Please—" _I started to cry. I don't like this. I'm _not_ the bad guy. Things needed to go back to the way they were.

Within an instant, all of the wolves lunged forward and bit down onto my arms, legs, and neck, sending white-hot pain throughout my body.

The pain caused me to wake up, screaming, and sweating. I had to take in several quick breaths before my breathing returned to normal. I looked around. Christina popped her head over her bunk to look at me. Her eyes were half shut and confused while her hair was messy.

"…the hell?" she asked.

"I'm sorry. I-It was just a bad dream, that's all." I curled back into my covers and hugged my pillow. _It was just a bad dream, that's all._

. . .

In the training room, everyone stood stiffly before Cashile, who had his hands behind his waist. Behind him, were the old vampires, including Viktor. He was wearing a dark suit and his dark hair was slightly slicked back, making the blue in his eyes pop even more.

Another vampire walked in and shut the door behind him. He was tall, really tall. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. "Sorry to keep you waiting." He said and then continued without offering and explanation. "Today you will show us your skills. We will determine if you will make an excellent addition to the vampire sector or not. Today's process will be very similar to the process on Choosing Day. Any questions?" he talked quickly and proficiently. "Good. We will start with Ethan Anderson, everyone else, please sit in the hallway until we call your name." The blonde vampire went to sit back with the others, and Cashile stood respectively behind them.

_This is it._

The whole procedure reminded me too much of Choosing Day—the day my life took a drastic turn. I thought of Danny and my family and how much they will hate me when (and if) I become a vampire, just like my dream.

Cashile would periodically come out of the training room and call out names. The mutt would go inside and then come back out and sit down again.

My leg starting bouncing restlessly, my heart was racing, and my stomach was uneasy. My last name isn't _that _far down in the alphabet, so what was taking so long?

Sitting next to me was Alex and Christina. They didn't seem as worried as me, but they didn't seem completely calm either.

Then I heard it.

"Allison Cooper." Cashile called my name in a monotonous way.

As I got up, I swallowed the lump in my throat and rubbed the sweat off on my pants. When I walked past him, he gently put a guiding hand around my back and squeezed my waist.

"Good luck." He whispered as he continued to walk behind the elder vampires.

The tall blonde vampire was sitting in the front, middle row as the other sat around him.

"Allison Cooper…" he pondered on my name while looking at papers. "Human." he said with a smile in his voice.

"Yes?" I said quietly and then cleared my throat.

He looked up from his papers. "AB negative? Very rare blood type." The vampire's eyes glanced back at Cashile, but Cashile just clenched his jaw. The blonde vampire found this amusing. "So, I have heard your stamina is quite extraordinary."

"Yes. I'm a excellent long distance runner." I informed.

"Outstanding." He clapped his hands together once. He was more enthused than I expected him to be, especially since every other vampire I have met here seems to want to kill me. "I see great potential in you."

His words surprised me and my eyebrows rose.

"Allison, tell me," he leaned forward. "do you want to be a vampire?"

My eyes instantly found Cashile and he looked as surprised as I was. "What?" I asked.

"You have immense possibilities that we can utilize whether you are a human or a vampire. As a human, you can continue to feed those of us that need," he glanced at Cashile. "or want your blood, but as a vampire you will acquire abilities you have never dreamed of before."

This was all news to me. I got a _decision_, but I was completely torn. I didn't necessarily want to become a vampire, but I didn't want to stay a human slave for the rest of my life—that would not be living. Yet, I couldn't build up my voice to choose 'vampire'. "I-I don't know." I shrugged. "I'll leave the decision to you. I just can't make it on my own."

The blonde vampire looked at the other vampires including Viktor, they shared an approving nod. "Thank you." He said. "You are finished."

That's it? Everyone else was in here for a lot longer. I bowed my head slightly. "Thank you." I said and walked out the door.

. . .

Results weren't published until dinnertime, and this was one of the only times the vampires let lose and celebrated.

We all gathered in the dining hall. It was much more crowded than I have ever seen it before.

As usual, I sat with Alex, Christina, and Jaxon. I saw a smile crawl up on Jaxon's face. "Stop worrying, you guys. Your hearts are racing like crazy."

Alex laughed a little. "Sorry." He continued to play with his fork.

I laughed along a little too and I felt a hand graze my shoulder. I turned my head to see who it was. "What are you doing here Cashile?" I asked.

"I came to see the results. May I join you?" he asked the group and me.

"Sure." Jaxon said cautiously as Cashile took a seat next to me and smiled.

"Have you heard anything?" Christina asked.

Cashile shook his head. "I'm as blind as you are."

Just as Cashile finished talking, another vampire took over. It was the same blonde vampire that I saw earlier. "Welcome! I hope all of you are enjoying the ceremony." There was a thunderous roar that rumbled throughout the crowd in response. I could see everyone's thermos lift into the air, including Jaxon and Cashile. Cashile didn't shout like the others he just respectfully lifted his thermos.

I turned to Cashile, "Who is that?" I asked.

"One of the first." He leaned in closer to talk to me. "Older than Viktor. His name is Jaymes."

After a few more welcoming words, Jaymes continued. "Now, for the moment we are here for. Initiates, if I call your name then you are to become a vampire. If you do not hear your name, I am sorry to inform you, you did not make the final cut."

Under the table I felt a cold hand creep onto mine. I looked at Cashile and he smiled back at me. "Good luck." He said. I squeezed his hand back, and continued to hold it for support.

Jaymes started reading the names in a random order. Most of the names were not very familiar to me because I never became close with most of the other trainees. He called off Ethan's name, Jade's, Alex's, and Christina's. I swallowed hard again.

Had I messed up? Should I have chosen to become a vampire? No, they said there was something special about me, but they also said I had potential as a _human_.

Words couldn't describe how sick I felt. My nerves made me want to throw up and my hand squeezed Cashile's hand even tighter. It's a good thing he couldn't be hurt easily because I'm sure I would be bruising him right about now.

The more names Jaymes called off, the smaller chance I would hear my name being called.

Jaymes voice caught me off guard. "Allison Cooper…" He said and looked at his tablet that I assumed held all of the names. He continued to read off a few more names.

I couldn't help myself. I screamed, turned to Cashile, and kissed him. As he pulled away, he whispered and smiled. "Congratulations."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Christina held up her hands. Cashile and I broke our kiss and looked at her.

"I was going to tell you." I smile guiltily. Her eyes squinted like she was mad, but I knew her too well. She wasn't mad; she was laughing at me in her head. She always talked about how Cashile was hot, but too freaky for her to ever date. She even told me how she always had a crush on him until she got to know Alex better. I know she isn't jealous; she just finds it humorous that _I_ got with him. If she only knew the truth behind us.

After Jaymes stopped calling off names, another roar came from the crowd. A smile crawled upon his face. "Our turning ceremony will commence tomorrow. I know I speak for the whole sector when I say this: _cum nova pietas, cum novum sanguinem, tu familia." _

The crowd recited the foreign words and then took a sip of the blood from their silver thermoses.

"What'd he say?" I asked.

"He basically said that you will become family after the transition." Cashile said as he stood up. He held out a hand like he wanted me to take it.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I can feel the family love."

"You may not feel it right now, but vampires do tend to respect other vampires. If you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us." Cashile's mouth curved up in the corner.

"It's true." Jaxon said timidly, like he didn't want to upset Cashile.

There was a small pocket of silence after that and Cashile pulled me up. "We'll be right back." He told everyone and then led me out the door.

"Where are we going?" I asked, but he didn't say anything, he just kept on leading me through the tunnels. I hadn't been in this part of the vampire sector before so I had no idea where we were going.

Finally, he led me to a garage that had a cement floor and white walls. It smelled like gas and old grass. "Stay here." he said.

"Okay?" I said as he walked away. When he returned he was walking the same black motorbike I had saw him on before toward me. "What is that?" I asked even though I knew the answer.

He held out a helmet for me to grab. "You said you wanted to know where I went, so I'm going to show you." He pushed out the helmet a little more. I grabbed it. "I think you deserve to see it before you are turned," He said solemnly, and then it hit me. _In less than 24 hours I will be a vampire. "_and I think you need to get away from here for a little while." He smiled. It's almost like he could read my mind; I needed to get away. This way my last day as a human, and in the morning, I would become a vampire. I want to enjoy my last day as a human.

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><p><strong>What do you think? Let me know by clicking the awesome little review button! REVIEW REVIEW ;)<strong>

**i think the next chapter will be long :) YAY! but i haven't written it yet.. so we'll see... i imagine it being long..**

**okay i'm done rambling.. REVIEW!**


	13. The Cache

**Wow. so sorry for the wait, my life has been beyond hectic with exams, ACT, and work.. oh my goodness. But hopefully this cheers you up. A LONG CHAPTER! WHOO!**

**oh and if i reach 100 reviews on this chapter i will release a chapter in Cashile's POV (i'm thinking in the past like around chapter 3...) but i'm getting ahead of myself**

**Here's chapter 13... ENJOY (i will try and update more frequently since it's SUMMMMMER!)**

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><p>Chapter 13:<p>

I walked down the paved driveway next to Cashile, who was pushing his motorcycle along. "So, are you going to tell me where we are going?" I asked.

"Are you going to stop asking questions and just trust me?" he retorted sarcastically.

I gave him a look. He grabbed the same backpack I had saw him with before and he gave it to me. "Hold on to this." He said. I opened it slightly and saw it full of water bottles. I was so busy looking inside the bag I almost ran into him when he stopped walking to put his helmet on.

I looked back at the vampire compound and we were farther away than I expected. From this far away the compound seemed dead; there was no way I could tell people were living there. If I didn't know any better I wouldn't even see the compound since a good portion of it is underground.

"Put your helmet on." Cashile's voice surprised me and it was muffled slightly from his helmet and he flipped the dark face shield down. He fired up the engine and swung his leg over the bike.

"I'm going on that thing? Is it even safe?" I asked, playing with the helmet in my hands.

"That's what the helmet is for." He joked.

I hesitantly got on the humming bike, threw the bag over my back, and wrapped my arms around Cashile. I could feel his laughter. "Hang on tight." He said.

"I _am_." I squeezed tighter and Cashile pushed the bike into gear and drove away. The wind blew all around me and if I didn't have a helmet on I'm sure my eyes would be tearing up from the wind as well.

The sun was just beginning to rise and was starting to light up the sky. I wonder if it's bothering Cashile at all… he does have a darkened face shield on though, so it's probably not _that_ irritating.

I watched the trees pass by us in a green blur. Little by little the trees started dwindling and gravel roads would starts to appear.

Cashile slowed down on his bike and I could take in my environment better now. There were several abandoned houses, apartments and warehouses that were wooden and chipping with paint. As he drove farther down the road, the houses became more cluttered. Eventually he came to a stop, turned off the engine, and pulled his helmet off—which tousled his hair.

He smiled and squinted at the upcoming sun behind me. "Come on." He said and held out his hand. I took it and timidly followed him.

"Where—?"

"Shh." He hushed and smiled again like he was enjoying keeping all of this a secret from me.

We finally stopped in the middle of a dirt path with buildings on either side of us.

"It's okay. No one followed us." He shouted.

I was seriously confused. "I'm right here… you don't need to shout—" Before I could finish my sentence I saw a small girl peeked out from one of the tattered buildings.

She had golden hair with baby curls at the ends. Her skin was tanned, had patches of dirt on her face and under her fingernails, and had a scabbed knee. She wore a battered dress and no shoes. She looked at me with worried eyes and then at Cashile.

"It's okay." He said with a welcoming voice. As if that was her queue, she ran up to him with a smile and he bent down to hug her. "Hey." Cashile said laughing.

Almost instantly, the small, abandoned town became alive. Hesitantly, children and adults started coming out of their hiding places.

A short male came forward and offered a hand for Cashile to shake. Cashile grabbed it and pulled him in to pat the man on his back.

"We didn't expect you back so soon. We were frightened; we thought someone had found us. Viktor said you two would be longer this time." The man said. He had scruffy hairs around his wide chin and his dark hair was peppered with grey.

"I decided to show Allison around," Cashile gestured to me. I smiled sheepishly. _What is going on? _"Oh, and I brought some more water for everyone."

The man took the bag and smiled politely. "Thank you, Cashile."

Now that everyone was acquainted, people went back to their normal routines, allowing me to talk to Cashile. "Okay. I give up. I need you to explain. Now."

Cashile grabbed his sunglasses and my hand and led me into a close building. Every once and a while someone would smile and say hello to him.

He pushed open the door for me and led me inside. It was dark and cool, and eerily similar to the coolness of the vampire compound. "What is this place?"

"Viktor's house. Well, mine too when I visit." Cashile flipped on the lights so that I could see. He took off his sunglasses.

"I meant _all _of this." I said, but it was good to know that he lived here. I walked around and looked at the old, chipped paintings on the walls.

"This? We like to call it The Cache." Cashile smiled as he looked up at me. There was something gleaming in his two-toned eyes.

"Why?" I pondered.

"Take a guess. There are humans all around you..._hiding_ from the world." He said.

I nodded. "Yeah, and they're living on vampire soil? Why?"

"What better place to hide than in the enemy's back yard. Nobody ever looks this close. They immediately start searching miles out."

"Okay?" I said, starting to understand. "But why are _humans_ here?"

"Viktor started this before I was turned. This is where I stayed when I was human. He trained me here."

"Then why didn't you stay? Why didn't you stay human?"

Cashile shrugged his shoulders with defeat in his eyes. "I promised. That was the trade. Besides, I couldn't leave my mother in there to fend for herself. That's why I can't stay here all the time. I have to live with the vampires, for my mother, and for my own safety; I can't let them get suspicious. Plus if there's ever a chance of me getting revenge for my family's murders, I can't do it as a human."

"So you've been gathering an army since?"

"No, not an army." He laughed. "They're all refugees. We saved them."

"How?" I asked.

"Some were prisoners in the compound. Some we found wandering, starving and dehydrated. Some heard rumors while they were living in the human compound and found their way to us." Cashile explained.

"So they just trusted vampires? I'm sorry, but no matter what species I am, I will never trust vampires."

"Not just vampires, there are werewolves here too."

"People from all three sectors live here? How? How is there not a war?" I asked, shocked.

"We're extremely careful. You'd be surprised how many werewolves are willing to help the humans."

"More like they want to stop the vampires from hurting the humans."

"Exactly." Cashile nodded. "They are protective or their kind _and_ humans, which is one of the reasons they hate vampires."

"But what about you and Viktor? Do the wolves get along with you two?"

Cashile smiled. "Not always. But Viktor has had a long history that dates back hundreds of years before the war. He knows very many people, all of which respect him greatly, and then they know he turned me." he shrugged. "Like I said, some knew me as a human, they've grown to trust me too." He started studying the walls with me, but I stopped looking at the old paintings and I studied Cashile's features instead, his _vampire_ features. As soon as a vampire is turned, their most beautiful features are intensified. They rarely gain weight, they get defined muscles, clear skin, shiny hair—all of which Cashile had. I looked at his brown and green eyes—his beautiful mutation.

This would be me soon. Transformed into a new being. "What's it like?"

He lifted his dark eyebrows in surprise. "Hmm?"

"That first moment you become a vampire. What's it like?" I asked, heart racing. I wanted to know. _Did it hurt? Is it scary? _Yet at the same time I didn't want to know what my future holds.

Cashile walked over to a couch and sat down. I sat next to him. The silence between us made me nervous.

"It's amazing." He finally said and then laughed. "I hate myself for saying that, but being human handicaps you from an amazing world that you would have never seen, heard or tasted before. Your senses are tenfold, and that first moment when you wake up… it's overwhelming. It's fantastic." He paused and I gave a half-hearted smile. _I thought Cashile hated what he was. _"But don't get me wrong, it comes with its disabilities too." He tucked a brown string of hair behind my ear. "Controlling it is the hardest, takes the longest too." He said all while avoiding my eyes and looking at my neck.

"How does the transformation happen?" I asked quickly, snapping Cashile out of his trance.

He took my arm and traced the vein from my inner elbow to my wrist as he talked. "First the vampire had to drain you of all of your human blood, but not to the point of death; if your heart stops beating you're dead, there's nothing anyone can do about that. Next, the vampire has to feed you their blood, and since your blood has circulated through their system it has all of the vampiric qualities with it. Finally after you wake up, usually after a few hours, you'll need to feed, and hopefully whoever turns you will just bring a few bags for you."

"What makes you think they'll bring me bags instead of humans?"

"Too much of a mess." Cashile said. I swallowed hard. "Relax, no matter what happens I'll be waiting outside for you." He leaned in closer so that his lips were inches away from mine. "I'll be the first one you see. Everyone at the compound is pretty scared of me, you know. I can talk my way around things."

"I know." I smiled, but didn't say anything else because by the time I wanted to, Cashile's lips were already on mine and I didn't mind, what I had to say wasn't _that_ important.

'_I want you to turn me.'_ I could bring that up some other time right? No, he doesn't decide who turns whom. It's random. It's better if I just don't bring it up; I'll save myself from any embarrassment.

His cool hands starting lifting up my shirt near the bottom. Sending electric goose bumps all over my body. Involuntarily, I moaned in response. I could feel a smile crawl up on his face and he leaned in more, eventually laying me on my back. My head fell onto the armrest and my body was underneath his. My hands found the bottom of his shirt and I slipped it off. A growl rumbled from his throat and he started kissing my neck. I clasped my hand around his neck, running my fingers through the back of this black hair.

Every time he kissed me it was like an explosion. It felt so good to have some one so close to me.

Out of nowhere, a throat cleared and it was hard for me to see who it was over the arm rest, but I eventually got a visual of and upside down Viktor with a smug grin on his face.

"What are you doing here?" Cashile asked, sliding off of me and standing up.

"What are _you_ doing here? Causing trouble I presume." Viktor lifted an eyebrow at me. He wasn't in his usual dressy attire, instead he was much more casual. He had on a fitted white shirt and jeans, sunglasses that pushed back his hair, and his skin was pink, but as I watched it, the pink faded. It was almost like he had a sunburn and then he healed himself. I _do_ remember reading that vampires could go out in the sun; it was just irritating to their skin.

Cashile rolled his eyes at Viktor's comment. "I wanted to show Allison around."

"Apparently." Viktor walked over to the kitchen area and opened a refrigerator door, only returning when he had a plastic bottle filled with blood. He took a sip.

"What _are _you doing here?" Cashile said, avoiding Viktor's comment, again. "I thought you said you needed to lay low."

"I did say that, but Serenity said that she needs help with some repairs on her house, and you can't just 'say no' to Serenity." Viktor took another sip of blood.

"You've been working outside all day?" I asked.

"Well, since the sun's been up, yes. How are you by the way? Ready for the big day tomorrow?" he smiled satirically.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I shrugged. "Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to you." I asked, surprising both Cashile and Viktor.

"Me? Sure."

"Okay." I smiled. I turned to look at Cashile, signaling for him to leave. He began to complain, but then put his shirt back on and walked out the door.

Viktor smiled. "He get's grumpy when he doesn't get his way sometimes." I laughed with him. "So what is it that you want to talk about?"

"Why did you choose me? Out of all of the humans that you could have chosen, why me?" I wasted no time.

"I saw potential in you. You have just enough rage against this society but not enough to cause monumental destruction. We need more vampires like you, like Cashile, like me. Humans will go extinct if we continue to let vampires reign the way they do now. Their numbers are dwindling, but the vamps don't see it."

"You've never seen people with that combination before?" I asked.

"Oh, I have, but there was something about you that stood out, and I still can't put my finger on it. All of my years on Earth and there are still mysteries." He smiled. "I love it."

"So it had nothing to do with my blood?" I asked just to reassure that my assumptions were false.

"No, that had something to do with my decision." He said. I had a flashback to when he grabbed my arm and studied it on Choosing Day. "More of it was an experiment. I wanted to see the vampire's reaction to having a human chosen."

"That's all I was? An experiment?" I asked, anger rising in my voice.

"No," he looked out the window and Cashile was there playing with the little girl I saw before.

"You picked me for Cashile?" I asked, genuinely surprised.

He smiled. "There are many reasons. I can't pin it down to just one." He winked and left me as he walked out the door.

. . .

As I walked outside I saw Cashile sitting under a tree, in the shade, with the blonde girl, playing with colorful rocks. She had a gleaming smile every time she looked at him. _Looks like I have some competition. _I thought.

"Hey!" I said as I approached them. They both looked up and I sat next to Cashile, making sure to lean into his shoulder a little bit. The blonde-haired girl huffed hair out of her face and I gave her a small, playful smile. "What are you guys doing?" I asked.

"Playin' checkers." The girl bounced onto her knees and stuck out her tongue in concentration. She looked at the red and black rocks in the grass and finally jumped her red rock over one of the black ones.

"You're getting better at this." Cashile said.

"I've been practicin'." She said. Cashile played a moved that stumped the girl for a while and he whispered to me.

"What'd you and Viktor talk about?" he asked.

"Nothing." I shrugged.

"You _do_ remember that I know tell when you're lying, right?" he raised his eyebrow.

"Ugh, there you are, Lily." An older woman, probably in her thirties, came walking toward us, luckily allowing me to avoid Cashile's question.

The girl—Lily—groaned. "Mom… I was playing with Cashile."

"Well don't run off again. You scared me half to death. I'm sorry if she was any trouble."

Cashile smiled. "No she was fine, like always."

Lily smiled as her mother pulled her by the wrist. "Byeee Cashile." He waved back to her and she squealed.

"She's got a crush on you." I said in a singsong voice.

"Yeah, well, I've got a crush on you." He said as he leaned in and kissed me. "I have one more surprise for you."

"More? I don't think that's possible." I said as he pulled me off of the ground. He led me through some buildings and down a dirt path that had long grass along the sides. As we walked, the dirt became whiter and looser.

"Is this what I think it is?" I asked, getting excited.

Then I heard it. Water. Waves. This is a beach. I've never been to a beach before but I've seen pictures.

As we walked down toward the water I also saw wolves running around in the water, chasing each other and shaking off in the water. Some were in their human form, lying in the sun.

Cashile whistled. Two of them turned their heads and started running toward us. I staged back a little, afraid that if I didn't they would hit me.

The first wolf was all white and transformed back into a girl right in front of me, exposing everything. Her hair was blonde and she had pale blue eyes with faded freckles on her cheeks. She quickly grabbed a large t-shirt and threw it on, covering her body to her mid thigh. "Hi. I'm Nicole." She held out a hand for me to shake.

"Hi." I said softly.

The second wolf came up to us and was a mixture of black and brown fur and transformed into a boy, a few heads taller than me. He grabbed a pair of shorts before anyone could see anything.

"Oh my god, Shane!" I leaped to reach his tall shoulders. His body was still wet from swimming, but I hugged him anyway.

"Nice to see you too Aly Cat."

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"What do you think?" Shane laughed.

"I thought you didn't like vamps."

"I don't, but… you don't remember?" he asked, looking at me and then at Cashile.

"What?" I asked.

"You know, I don't think—" Cashile began.

"Cashile and I were friends way back when." Shane smiled.

"What?" Shane's werewolf girl friend and I said at the same time.

"Yeah, I could never hate him." Shane tried to put Cashile in a headlock, but Cashile squirmed his way out of it

I put my hand on my hip. "You never told me that."

Cashile grinned guiltily. "I was going to." He lied.

"So what _are_ you doing here, Shane?" I asked

"I got promoted back in the werewolf compound. I'm an Alpha now and Nicole is my Beta." He explained. I remembered reading about the werewolves when I was in school; Alpha's are the leaders and Beta's are the second in command. I wonder if Nicole was more than just Shane's Beta? "Cashile came to me about this place and I rallied up some wolves I thought would be willing to help."

"That's great. What about Danny?" I asked, but as soon as I did, Shane's expression changed.

"He's part of my pack. I still don't trust him enough to come here and work with Viktor and Cashile."

"We're all trying to end the sectors, and having tensions between our own group isn't going to get us very far." Cashile explained.

"Right." I sighed. If there's one thing that Danny hates, it's vampires. He wouldn't even get along with Viktor or Cashile; that's how much he hates vampires. That's how much he will hate me now.

. . .

I spent the rest of the day with Nicole, Shane and Cashile. We stayed on the beach and every so often Cashile would need to cool off in the water. I stripped down to my undergarments and walked into the water with him. He took off his shirt too.

"Are you okay?" he asked. The water was reaching my waist now.

"I think you know the answer to that." The whole day I have been trying to put on a mask, but Cashile could see right through it. He knew I was nervous about being turned into a vampire.

He wrapped his arms around me and I took in his scent in a long breath. "It will be okay, I promise."

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><p><strong>What do you think? REVIEW PLEASE! REMEMBER: 100 (total) reviews = Cashile POV :)<strong>


	14. Turning Day

**So this chapter starts with Allison's POV and then goes back in time to Cashile's POV (just like i promised) ;) THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR GETTING ME TO OVER 100 REVIEWS xoxo**

**ENJOY**

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><p>Chapter 14:<p>

**Allison:**

It's cold in here, in this… _cell._ They told me to come here and wait. I tried to ask questions. _Where's Cashile? Can I talk to someone? How long do I have before it happens? _All of which were ignored as I was pushed along.

There was one light that dangled from the ceiling with a saucer around it, creating dark spots in the corner of the cement walls. Directly below the light was a bed that looked more like a sacrifice stone than anything else. The coldness of the stone bit at my bare legs as they touched the smooth surface.

I tapped my finger on my leg and looked around as if to find something new, or if something changed. Nothing did. The walls were still grey, cement, and plain.

As if it were planned, somebody's footsteps walked to the pace of my finger tapping. I got up and blindly pounded on the metal door (there wasn't even a window on the door).

"Excuse me!" I pounded harder as I heard the footsteps draw nearer. "Hello?" I yelled as closed my eyes in frustration.

This wasn't my choice. I never wanted to be a vampire. My future was chosen for me; the least I deserved was answers and no one would give them. _I want more time._

I let my head sag against the door and it was only a matter of seconds before I felt tears streaming down my face. _It's too soon._ I'm not ready to become a vampire. I don't know if I'll ever be ready.

The door opened in a rush. I stepped back quickly, almost losing my balance. "Cashile." I breathed in relief. "I'm so glad they let you in. I've been so worried. Nobody has been telling anything." I told him in-between kisses.

Cashile tried to speak but I wouldn't let him; I can't let him go. I hugged him hard and didn't plan on letting him go anytime soon.

"I love you." He whispered into my ear. I was about to tell him I love him back but something was off. The way his breath blew too close to my neck. The way his body was tense. The way his emotions were nowhere close to mine when he entered the door.

Cashile wasn't here to wish me my last human goodbye; he was here to _turn me_.

His fangs sunk deep into the crook of my neck. I sucked in air in response, not expecting the pain so suddenly.

The loss of my blood made my knees buckle so Cashile grabbed me and carried me over to the cement slab I was sitting on earlier, all while biting my neck. As he leaned over me, he gave off a faint moan. I guess I could expect as much, he _did_ drink my blood before all of this and to finally have it fresh… it must be exhilarating.

My vision started blurring and my head started spinning, black crept into my vision. I only got one glimpse of Cashile, red-eyed, fangs bared, and bloody before my vision blacked out completely.

. . .

**Cashile:**

_One hour earlier_

"You've got to be kidding me." I pushed the envelope that was in front of me off of the table.

"Not about this. I thought you would be happy." Viktor complied, looking at the envelope once more. "Wouldn't you rather it be _you_ than someone else?"

_Damn, _he's right_. _"I'd rather it not be any one." I placed my elbows on the stainless steel table and ran my fingers through my hair. "When?" I asked, not fighting the inevitable.

Viktor looked at his expensive watch. "About an hour."

I sighed as I got up, but what I really wanted to do was scream. Allison didn't deserve to have her humanity taken away from her; it wasn't fair. She wasn't given a choice; she was forced here.

_I was forced here, _I thought as I walked through the hallways, passing already drunken vampires. Throughout the night there would be parties, celebrating the new vampires. A few of them bumped into me and I growled at them. They instantly backed off. They were so easily afraid of me, with all the crazy rumors they spread about me, about my power, it was easy to hide the truth from them.

"Jeff," I hollered at the guard at the feeding center. He nodded in response and opened the door for me. "Thank you." I mumbled.

I made my way through the all too familiar hallways and listened to the all too familiar screams. It smelled like sweat and metal and blood. I kept my eyes low, making sure not to make eye contact with any of the imprisoned humans. If I did I would see their pain and I would want to help. I would want to take them to The Cache, but it was simply too dangerous and we had little room left.

I opened the door. My mother's head snapped up and she shoved a book under her rickety mattress. "Oh honey, please knock next time." She placed her hand over her heart and carefully pulled the book back out from her mattress.

"Do I need to get you a new one again?" I asked, gesturing at the book. I normally bring her books from the library to keep herself occupied. No one ever noticed me because no one used the library, except for Allison; she saw me there.

"No," she said. "I like this one. I'm reading it again." She smiled. It was nice seeing her somewhat happy. I tried to smile back at her, but failed. "What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing."

She gave me a look. "I'm your mother. I know you and I know when something is wrong, I can feel it."

"It's Turning Day today."

"Is it? Already?" My mother shook her head. "I have no sense of time anymore." She looked at me with her tired eyes. "Why has that got you so worked up?"

"Allison was chosen."

"That's wonderful," she said. "Allison is too sweet to be locked up in here. Did her parents ever come and see her?"

"Yeah," I smiled, remembering the glow on Allison's face when she saw her family again. I liked seeing her happy, that's why I'm so hesitant to turn her; I don't want to see her happiness fade.

"That was nice of you to contact them and persuade them to come see her."

"It wasn't easy," I chuckled.

"Not many people trust vampires these days. It's hard to find quality ones like you and Viktor." She smiled warmly. "You take care of Allison, make sure she doesn't forget who she is." She reached out to put her hand on my knee, a loving gesture, but something caught my eye.

"What's this?" I asked, inspecting her wrist. Two fresh puncture wounds were just beginning to heal. I rubbed my fingers gently over them. I didn't do this. I've been too preoccupied with training, with Allison.

"I'm fine, Cashile."

"_Who_ did this?" I asked, raising my voice more. Not only was it an unspoken law to feed from another vampire's donor—especially my rare AB negative donor—whoever did this, did this to my _mother. I have to keep her safe._

My mother closed her eyes, fighting the urge to tell me who did this to her.

"Who?" I almost growled.

"Seth," she said, already regretting her decision. I let go of her wrist, white where my hand had been gripping it. "Please—"

My hand was already on the door. I turned around and tried to contain the anger that was building up inside of me. "I have to go."

"Don't do anything irrational." My mother pleaded.

I shot her a look. I know she means well, but I can take care of myself. "He made it personal, first with Allison, now with you. I have to do something irrational to make a point. It's the way the world works now." I said. Mother stood up and kissed me on the cheek. Without saying anything else I slammed the door behind me.

I trudged through the hallway, through the dining hall, and into the sleeping quarters until I found Seth. He was with a girl. _Of Course._

"Cashile, I would say that I didn't expect you, but that would be a lie." A wicked smile crawled upon his face and he shooed the girl out of his room, leaving us alone. "You're lucky. AB negative blood is delicious. I can only imagine what it tastes like coming from a _younger_ source."

I dug my fingernails into my hand and growled. "I told you to leave her alone."

"Allison? Yes, you did say that she was under your protection for the week, but your _mother_ on the other hand, well, she's a free-for-all."

How did he know? We've been so careful. I tried to keep my facial expressions unchanged, but I didn't know if I succeeded. I can't give anything away; he could be testing me. "No, _Joan_ is not your free-for-all."

"Well, considering her blood is so rare, she _is_ designated toward you, but now that Allison has joined the compound you have two sources, so as long as I don't kill your mother nobody can do anything to stop me." He enunciated.

"Joan is _not_ my mother." I stepped closer to him.

He let off an amused chuckle. "Well, I admit, you had me going there for a while. I was as gullible as the rest of the compound. Your mysterious appearance four years ago, your menacing power… I figured out your secret." Seth said with a viperous smile. "Joan is your mother, but then, who would be the father? Could it be the infamous Viktor?" he chuckled again, pleased that he found out my 'secrets'. "Yes, that does seem to make sense. He did turned you didn't he, also giving you some of his brute power? I always wondered why he favored you when he could be spending his time in more _appropriate_ places, but no; you're his progeny. "

I was truly amused. It's so typical for a vampire to think they no everything, when they know nothing. "How did you know?" I asked, playing along.

Seth started picking at his fingers. "Believe me it wasn't easy. If any other vampire tried to catch on, they wouldn't, that's how hard it was to figure out—" he stopped mid sentence and studied me, cocked his head and began again. "No. I was wrong," he studied me more. "I was very, very wrong. I haven't figured it out at all, have I?"

I couldn't help but smile. "You never were the brightest."

Seth's upper lip curled up in a snarl and he lunged himself at me. I easily stepped to the side. He missed me completely. He whorled around and tried an attack again but once again his slow tactics were nothing compared to my fast ones.

I clutched his throated and carried him to the ground with me. His fangs were bared and his eyes were red with fury. "You know why nobody has figured me out yet because every vampire here—especially you—is too full of hubris. You'd never think something like me could come from where I came from, but I did, and now I'm out for revenge. It's been a spark inside of me for years, and guess what?" I squeezed harder around Seth's neck and he hissed. "You just let the spark turn into a burning, raging fire, and you'll be the first to burn." I let go of his neck and sped out the door.

By the time I reached the Turning Cells I had cooled down. _What have I done? He's going to figure me out. Everything I've worked for will be ruined. _It has taken me 12 years and to ruin it when I was so close…I'm an idiot.

To make my life even better I had to go turn Allison. I wanted to scream. I didn't even get the chance to tell her that _I_ was the one turning her. I can see it now: I'm going to find her alone in her turning cell and she will be excited that I got to see her. Just like I promised.

_Fuck._

After stalling myself for as long as I could, I walked forward. The heel of my boot was echoing loudly off of the cement walls. I passed other holding cells and I could hear and smell the transition happening. The blood was intoxicating; the smell was traveling through the entire hallway. I had to keep reminding myself to keep moving forward even though the blood beaconed me.

I stopped in front of Allison's door. My hand paused on the handle, but I finally gained enough strength to open it.

The suddenness of the door opening almost knocked her to her feet. _Clumsiness: _a trait she'll lose soon.

"Cashile," she sighed and hugged me. She began kissing me, but I didn't enjoy it. I felt like a traitor. "I'm so glad they let you in. I've been so worried. Nobody has been telling anything."

I couldn't meet her eyes. I hugged her close to me and let my head fall near the soft crook of her neck. I breathed in her sweet scent. That lost me; I couldn't wait any longer. "I love you." I whispered apologetically and bit into her flesh.

She gasped, but I barely heard her, all I could think about was her blood as it rushed into my mouth. Sweet, warm, fresh. For years I fed off of her blood but it was old and stale. Not now, now it was full of energy and pulsing with life.

Her legs started to buckle from the loss of blood. As I carried her over to the table I made sure not to waste a drop of blood. _Damn, this is a hundred times better than I ever expected. _Involuntarily, I moaned as I continued to drink her life force.

I listened to her heart as it slowed, reminding me that I had to stop. I lifted my mouth from her neck just in time to see her eyes flutter shut.

Without wasting any time I bit my wrist and held it over her mouth. Scarlet drops fell from my wrist and onto her lips. No response. "Come on, Allison." I pleaded. I could hear her heartbeat slow. If she didn't take my blood soon I would lose her._ "_I can't go on without you." More drops fell.

Allison's tongue flicked out and sampled the blood. Seconds went by that felt like minutes before she reached out and grabbed my wrist and pulled it to her mouth. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Welcome back."

She moaned as she tasted blood for the first time. I couldn't help but smile at her; she's _so_ beautiful. She looked up at me, her eyes no longer brown, but red. She shut them again as she drank.

I was wrong before; her life isn't over. I'm going to make it work. _We_ are going to make the best of it for as long as we can. I vow it.

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><p><strong>Hey you just read this, and this is crazy, but there's a button, so review maybe?<strong>

**lol sorry i had to ;D**


	15. One Door Closes, Another One Opens

**i know you guys have been waiting for this chapter because i left on a cliff hanger... sorry but i'm here to say this is another cliff hanger ;)**

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><p>Chapter 15:<p>

When I opened my eyes the light above me was shining so bright it was like looking at the sun. I quickly shut them again and groaned. "_Gah!" _Slowly I tested my vision by blinking occasionally, ultimately regaining composure.

I was lying on my back on the stone and everything came rushing back: the vampires locking me in here, Cashile biting me and then laying me here. I sat up in a gasp, looking around.

Nothing changed in the room, but everything changed about me. I could see every detail on the wall just by sitting here; I didn't need to get up close. I could see the porous holes in the cement, the small black crack in the corner and the small ant that was carrying a miniscule white crumb. I tilted my head in bemusement.

I continued to search the room and I found Cashile sleeping behind me. His hand was holding up his head, and was also pulling his cheek up at an awkward angle, revealing his teeth. I gave a small giggle at how vulnerable he looked.

Moving my legs so that they hung over the side of the stone, they touched the ground. I had taken my shoes off before everything happened and now I could feel everything one thousand times better, and that was just through my feet. The ground no longer felt cool to me, in fact, the air didn't even feel cold; it was just right.

"You're up," Cashile spoke, surprising me.

I quickly spun my head around to look at him. "How long have I been out?" I rubbed my head a little, realizing for the first time how much it ached.

Cashile stretched his arms out behind his head. "About three hours. Here, this will help your head." He searched in a small cooler, pulled out a blood bag and handed it to me. I hesitantly reached out and grabbed it, but I only played with it in my hands. "How's your throat?" he asked.

_My throat? Why was he asking about my-? Oh… _My throat was _burning_. It wasn't just a normal dehydration thirst, but an extreme hunger. It seemed to affect everything in my body. My joints seemed creaky and stiff, unable to work without a warm, succulent solution. "It's okay," I finally added, noticing Cashile was staring at me with a curious eyebrow cocked.

"Really?" he added, not believing me. "Just drink the blood. It will help."

I stared down at the scarlet package. "I-It's just so…"

"Gross?" Cashile smiled.

"Yeah," I added, trying not to offend him.

"You're just not used to it yet. Trust me, it won't be unappetizing for long." He smiled. "Do you want a glass? Sometimes drinking from one tricks your mind into thinking what you're doing is more human than vampire." I nodded and he pulled out a plastic cup. _Thank god it wasn't clear._ "I had to drink out of one of those for weeks before I was used to it. It's weird transitioning over to blood for us, but the mutts have always been around blood, so the transition isn't as hard for them."

Cashile poured the liquid into the cup and I looked down at it.

Shouldn't I be feeling a sudden urge to drink it? Shouldn't the blood be appealing to me already? I _am_ hungry, but it's like my body doesn't know what it's hungry for yet.

I cautiously took a sip.

The blood was about the same temperature as my lips, but still managed to make them tingle. The thick liquid traveled into my mouth and instantly my taste buds exploded. As I swallowed I could feel it making me stronger, making my muscles tense, making my joints creak-free, making my hunger grow.

I took another sip, bigger this time. The same reaction. Each time I took a sip it energized my body; I didn't want this feeling to end.

Cashile automatically filled up my cup again and I didn't waste any time finishing it off. _I want more._

Not wanting to waste any blood, I licked my lips, but I felt something strange, something… _poking_ my tongue. I gasped.

"What?" Cashile asked.

I giggled. "I have fangs!"

He gave me a chuckle in response. "Yeah, so do I." Cashile raised his upper lip slightly, showing me that his had let out his fangs. As he walked up to me, he took a small sip from my cup and kissed me, letting the blood flavor that was lingering in is mouth venture into mine.

I draped my arms over his strong shoulders and wrapped my legs around his waist in order to pull him closer to me. I could feel him smile. "This stone is a little hard,"

"Yeah, it is hard." I pulled at his shirt and then on his belt loops. All I could think was: _I want more_.

Cashile laughed. "I meant let's go to my bedroom and get out of this cell." He held is forehead on mine.

"Okay," I smiled up at him, but before I could say anything else, he sped out of the room in a teasing matter. It wasn't like before, when I all I could see was a blur of him, in fact, I could see his black hair pick up in the wind he created as he left the door. "Hey!" I called out and ran into the hallway, at normal speed since I didn't know how to trigger my vampire speed yet.

"_Just… run." _I could hear Cashile say, but he wasn't next to me, he wasn't even in the hallway. His voice was somewhat muffled as it came to me again "_Run."_

I did as I was told, and ran. It surprised me how easy it was for me to do. Within seconds I followed Cashile's voice into his room. It took me a matter of seconds, when normally it would have taken a minute or so.

"Glad you could make it," Cashile said as he leaned against his doorframe. I spun him around so that we were both in his room and I quickly pinned him against the wall. The door shut behind us.

I started kissing him passionately, running my fingers through his hair. He mimicked my actions, pulling me closer with one hand in my hair and one at my waist, up my shirt. It was strange how now I couldn't feel the coolness of his touch anymore now that my skin was at the same temperature.

The higher his hand traveled up my shirt, the more excited I got. Almost uncontrollably, I grabbed him and pulled him to the bed with me with my newfound power. He fell to his back and laughed. "Is this turning into a competition?" Cashile asked playfully and spun me around so that I was lying on my back and started kissing me up and down my neck. "I love you." He whispered. I couldn't help but smile at him because I felt the same way. He leaned up on his elbows and pushed a piece of hair behind my ear. "I mean it. Before you, I felt nothing. Nothing. All I knew was revenge. That's what kept me going and now…now you've given me different thing worth fighting for. _You_ keep me going." He chuckled and I laughed with him.

I couldn't find the right words to equate to what he said so I settled for: "I love you too." And kissed him back.

Once again his hands journeyed under my shirt, ultimately pulling it off, throwing it onto the floor, and massaging me, making me feel things I've never felt before. The crook of my back, my breasts, my thighs…

Surprising myself, I let a small growl come out of my mouth and practically tore off Cashile's shirt. Having both him and I shirtless was terribly exciting and frightening at the same time. I've never done anything like this before, but there was still that urge burning inside of me, screaming: _more._

Every single look, touch, _sense_ was made larger than life now that I'm a vampire, and now that I'm with _him, _I felt like exploding. My mind went blank about everything else—the humans at the Cache, the approaching war, Seth—all that mattered was now, here, with Cashile.

. . .

I don't know how many hours had passed, but I had fallen asleep again and I was in Cashile's bed. I rolled sleepily over and felt a lump under my arm.

"Ow," Cashile groaned from under the forest green sheets. I lifted them up to see his face. His black hair was tousled all over and he squinted up at me. "You didn't have to wake me up like that."

I laid my head back down on the pillow, hugged the covers close to my bare chest and smiled at him.

"Stop doing that," he joked.

"What?"

"Staring. It's creepy."

"It's romantic," I smiled at him again and kissed him. "I'm sorry for the way I acted. I mean, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy what happened, because I did, I just… don't know what possessed me to—"

"It's okay. It happens more often than you'd think. Vampires tend have stronger _emotions_ when they are first turned." Cashile explained. I bit my lip in embarrassment.

"Did it happen to you?" I asked as he rolled off of the bed an meandered over to the miniature fridge, bending over to see it's contents. His sweatpants slid down his back, slightly showing off the small dimples on his naked back.

"I didn't have anyone I was in love with in the room with me when I was turned." He came walking back to me with a few bags of blood. One was already open and he was sipping from it like a juice box. "What?" he asked. "You took a lot of my blood when I turned you. I need to fill up again." He gave me an innocent smile.

I waited politely for him to finish. I wasn't really hungry for blood anymore because, like he said, I had drank most of his and a bag after I transitioned, but I have to admit it _did_ smell good. It was hard, but I resisted from grabbing the bag right out of Cashile's hand.

After he finished he threw on a shirt and styled his hair so that pieces of it weren't flying everywhere. "Come on," he called to me.

I cleared my throat. "Um, I'm not exactly fond of wearing sheets out there." I pulled them closer to my chest.

"But you make them look so good." He gave me a crooked smile and then finally threw me some extra clothes.

I grabbed them quickly and ordered for him to turn around. He did, but I could feel his eyes on me every so often. I just rolled my eyes. "Where did you get these?" I asked as I buttoned up the skinny jeans.

"I had an extra pair around just in case things got bloody in the cell." I shot him a look that asked: _did you doubt me_? "It happens," he defended.

After I threw on the last of my outfit, fixed my hair and made sure my face wasn't a total mess, I walked out the door with Cashile by my side.

I started to head for the cafeteria, since it was about midnight—lunchtime—but Cashile pulled me in another direction. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see."

Cashile pushed open a metal door that said **'No Exit'** and led me up a grassy hill that overlooked a valley. "Close your eyes," he instructed. "Lay down."

"But I can't see," I giggled and he guided me to the grassy ground where I laid on my back.

"Open them," Cashile whispered and when I did I saw _billions_ of stars.

"Oh my god!" I gasped. I had always seen stars before as a human, but there were so many more now. Sometimes when Wes woke up from a bad dream we would look out the window to calm him down and I told him to count the stars, eventually he would lose count and fall asleep.

It must be my new eyes because I could see everything, and I mean everything, the trees on the horizon, the grass, even the glistening dew on the grass. Normally I would only be able to see a few feet in front of me and the rest would be darkness, but now it was like the sun had just gone down and it was barely dark. I could see the world in a completely different way now; it's amazing.

The stars glistened bright and there almost seemed to be more stars than sky. Some burned white while others glowed blue or red. I had never seen anything like this before.

"This was always my favorite part, being able to see the beauty of the night, everything I had missed out before."

"Yeah," I said, overwhelmed. "I understand."

For a long time we just sat staring at the sky, my head on Cashile's rising and falling chest. It wasn't awkward silence; it was nice. "So what now?" I asked.

I could hear a deep rumbling laugh come from Cashile's chest. "Now," he shifted his position so he was sitting up on his elbows. "We act like nothing is wrong."

"What's really going on?"

"We have to watch the vamp council members, especially Seth." He growled at Seth's name. "He's been searching into me. He knows about my mom and it's only a matter of time before he figures out the whole thing." Cashile clenched his jaw and shook his head in anger. "He bit my mother."

"What? Is she okay?"

"It was just her wrist this time, but when he figures out about you, me, Viktor—"

"I know." I replied.

"He has to be stopped." He muttered. "He's the head of everything; we take him down, we take the whole operation down."

. . .

Cashile and I stayed outside until the sun started to rise. "I have to go back to The Cache. Viktor said that there are some things that he needs help finalizing."

"Do you want me to come?" I asked.

"Not today. It's just too dangerous for you to go right now since Seth is snooping around and because we don't know how you'll react will all of the humans." He paused. "I'm sorry; I'll stay here with you. I won't go."

His words hit me hard, but not in a harsh way. _I am a vampire now_, I have to remember that. I can be dangerous. I can be deadly.

"No, it's okay," I said softly.

"You can go ahead back to my room. Feel free to help yourself to anything you want." He said, obviously talking about the blood in the fridge.

He pulled me in for a close embrace and kissed me before he left to get his bike. After he was gone I made my way back to Cashile's room. Alone. I had already slept a lot, but my body seemed to want more so it could fully recover from the transformation.

When I walked in his room I took off my clothes and found a large shirt of Cashile's to wear instead. I wanted to smell him, trick my mind into thinking he was still here and not miles away.

Just as I was on the brink between dreams and reality I felt a body crawl onto the bed. I was too tired to open my eyes so I spoke with them closed. "Decide not to go?" I mumbled.

There was no response, but a shift in weight. Confused, I sat up and caught a small glimpse of dark eyes before a bag went over my head and my hands were tied together. Just as I started to struggle out of my restraints, I took a blow to the head and passed out.

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><p><strong>there you go! REVIEW PLEASE :)<strong>


	16. Trapped

**sorry for the wait. who knew it would be harder to update in the summertime rather then the school year. ugh. i blame work. i'll try to be better.**

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><p>Chapter 16:<p>

I woke up, my arms and ankles tied to the wooden chair I was sitting on, with a massive throbbing headache; one of those headaches that throbs in your ears, only making the pain worse. I groaned as I mentally assessed my damages. Whatever was tying my hands and feet against the chair was burning them, creating blisters, and whenever I moved it caused an excruciating stinging sensation, like razors digging into my skin, so I tried to stay as motionless as possible.

Now that my vampire eyes could see plenty well in the dark I could see that I was still in Cashile's shirt, thankfully it covered past my underwear, but since I was sitting, it was a close call. My pale bare thighs were practically glowing in the darkness.

I let my head hang on the back of the chair, the wicker seat groaning. _Where am I? Why am I here? Where is 'here'?_

I carefully looked around, making sure not to move my wrists or ankles too much. I was in some sort of room with metal walls. _That's strange. Why are the walls metal?_ One thing was for sure; whoever has me here doesn't want me out. In front of me, a little to the right, was a stairway that led up to more darkness. I thought about screaming for help, but decided against it once I remembered who took me.

_Seth._

I _know_ he did this. I remember seeing his face right before I was knocked out. Just the thought of him made me struggle against my restraints. I wanted to get out and fight him, and punch him, preferably in the lower region. As I tugged on my wrists, it caused me more pain than I ever could have imagined. It was the kind of pain that made it hard to breathe. I felt like I was going to throw up. Curse my new ability to feel and sense everything better.

I quickly gave up struggling and waited for the stinging to fade, but it didn't; I could still feel a cutting sensation. I let my head drop, hairs falling in front of my face.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" I heard a voice say. I instantly recognized it. The way it sliced through the darkness and slithered toward me. It was the same voice that threatened to violate me and suck me dry.

I clenched my jaw together in a growl. "Let me go," I threatened between my fangs.

Seth chuckled darkly. "I don't think so."

I struggled some more, Seth's presence pushing me over the edge. Once again, pain found my wrists and ankles, overwhelming me with horrible misery. I let out a scream that was part torment, part frustration. Seeing me in this sort of agony only made the wicked grin on Seth's face grow.

"It's no use; struggling only makes it worse." His evocative, dark eyes hinted that he gained pleasure from my pain. I hate his eyes. The way they always considered me to be one of his play toys. The way they always implied his sadistic, provocative thoughts.

"Makes _what_ worse?" I spat.

"Oil of vitriol," the words slithered off of his tongue.

I huffed out air in irritation and rolled my eyes. "What the _hell_ is that?"

"It's more commonly known as Sulfuric Acid. It's a funny thing about vampires," he paused to walk closer to me "no matter how badly you hurt them, they will always heal, but they will _always_ feel the pain. Humans, however, die easily; too easily." He smiled. "Good thing you're not human anymore."

I snapped my teeth at him, causing him to step back—only for a second—to regain his composure. "The acid corrodes your skin," Seth continued to explain proudly, even though I didn't want him to. "Not only does it chemically burn your skin, but it also literally burns your skin—the same way fire would."

As Seth explained about the acid, the pain grew because I was thinking about it. I tried to keep reminding myself: _don't think about it. Don't think about it and the pain will go away. Think of a way you can get out of this instead._

"You know what the best part is?" Seth continued. "Every time you struggle, it triggers the acid to make an even more concentrated form." He laughed darkly. "The more you try to escape, the worse your pain will be."

"Why are you doing this to me?" I tried to keep my voice low and controlled to hide my panic and pain.

"Simple, to get to Cashile." Seth squatted down to my level and grabbed my jaw. "_You _are the key. As long as I have _you_, I have the advantage over _him_. As long as I have you, I can find out what he has been keeping from the entire compound."

"I'm never going to tell you." I laughed.

"Oh, I know you won't tell me, but as soon as your precious Cashile finds out that you're missing, he'll do _anything _to get you back."

"You're willing to do all of this just to get his secret." I could hear the words in my head: _you fool, the answer is right in front of you. _

"I'm willing to do anything to get his secret." He gripped my thigh, pulling the chair and me closer to him. His upper lip curled in a feral smile.

"Why is it so important to you anyway?"

"He has power, a lot of it. I've tried for years to get him to work with us, but he always refuses. If I find out how he got so powerful, I won't need him, and I can build my own army using that knowledge. Nothing will be able to defeat us. Vampires are the apex predators, but no one seems to recognize that, especially those wolves. As soon as Cashile shares his secret with me, vampires can rule how we were destined to."

Seth wants vampires to rule over the sectors? Don't they already do that? Yes, they do. That's why Viktor and Cashile are looking for a way to end the sectors, so we can all live in peace again. "If you think the wolves and humans are just going to sit back and let vampires take over, you're crazier than I thought."

"I know they'll retaliate, which is why I need Cashile's power. Right now, it's too hard to defeat werewolves in a fistfight, but using Cashile's power, we can fight them off, and we can kill them. " Seth cocked his head to the side and his dark gaze fell on mine. "Do you know what happens when a werewolf is bitten by a vampire?"

"No," I replied, trying to keep an uninterested tone.

"It poisons the werewolf. An infection starts in the area where they were bitten and spreads in the blood stream until it reaches the nervous system. That's where the fun begins. The wolf starts a fever, starts to hallucinate, causing paranoia, they're delirious, unable to sleep or think straight. Any sound, any movement can induce an attack. Their death is slow and terrifying, usually weeks long."

The way Seth was describing it was disturbing. He knew a lot, almost too much, almost like he's seen it himself. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that he would do something like that. He's a heartless being that only wants power and destruction.

Seth continued to talk. "Your brother is a wolf, correct?" I glowered at Seth—_if looks could kill.._. He laughed at me. "Ohhh. You are a big bad vampire now aren't you, with your red eyes."

"You'll never get away with this." I threatened.

Seth started walking away into the darkness and only returned when he had a bucket. In his pale hand he had a pair of thick gloves, which he put on. He stuck his hand in the clear liquid and sped over to me. In his hand was a strip of cloth, soaking from whatever liquid was in the bucket. Standing behind me, he wrapped the cloth around my mouth and I instantly felt burning pain. I tried to scream, but it only came out as a muffled howl.

I tried to calm myself down by slowing my breathing down, but every breath I took felt like I was inhaling razors. Whatever acid Seth had said he used on my restraints was also on this cloth and I was breathing in the agonizing fumes. I shrieked, yelped, and hollered until I felt tears run down my face. _I let him get to me. I'm broken. I'm weak. _

My thoughts became hazy and jumbled as I was losing consciousness. I could feel the deep sleep pulling me away. He was right, all of this wouldn't kill me, at least not immediately. I could feel my body getting weaker and weaker.

Seth grabbed my jaw just as he was about to leave, careful not to touch the acidic cloth. My eyes kept fluttering shut. "I think I have a pretty good advantage over Cashile. I _do_ have everything he wants." After that he left the room and I passed out.

. . .

A persistent tapping awaked me on my shoulder. "Allison?" a soft voice asked.

The only thing I could do was moan in response as I tried to regain my vision. Whoever was talking to me—or whomever I _imagined_ was talking to me—started untangling the cloth that was wrapped around my mouth, ultimately unwrapping it. As they peeled the cloth away, it felt like they were taking my skin with it. I let out an awful groan that sounded something like a dying animal.

"I'm sorry, Allison. I know it hurts. It's almost over." The voice said. It wasn't male; it was a woman, definitely not Seth. Whoever it was, was speaking softly and tenderly, like they didn't want to hurt me. The soothing voice reminded me of my mother. I automatically closed my eyes and started tearing up at the thought of her being here.

"Mom?" I asked the voice. My vision was still clearing but I could make out a silhouette. "Mom?" I asked again, dazed.

"Honey," the voice started and I was filled with memories, but something was off about them; they didn't feel like they were mine, they felt like they were someone else's, yet, they were vivid in my mind.

I remembered her singing the human lullaby to me as I fell asleep in my bed, her running her fingers through my hair as she bathed me, her reading me a story as I fell asleep. The memories seemed real, but I knew they weren't. My mother never read me stories, not because she didn't care, but because we couldn't afford them. All of the stories that were told were oral, not from a book, and this memory was definitely reading. _That's strange, _I thought. _Where are these memories coming from?_

As my thoughts cleared, so did my vision. I looked at the woman squatting in front of my chair, cleaning a towel in a blue plastic pale. She raised the towel out of the liquid and lifted it to my face. I winced, expecting the liquid to burn, expecting it to be acid, but it wasn't, it was warm water. Relief washed over me like a summer rain and I sighed. "_Joan_," I said weakly.

Joan's grey and black hair was tied back into a lose bun and pieces were falling out. She was wearing brown skirt and a deep blue shirt. "Shhh." She whispered. "You are very weak. No need wasting your energy on speaking."

Naturally, I refused her orders. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. Seth took me and forced me down here while you were passed out." Joan explained as she continued to gently clean my wounds.

"This can't be good." I gathered enough strength to sit up slightly. Joan had finished cleaning my face and started to try and free me from my restraints. "Be careful," I said. "There's acid on them that will burn you."

I could hear her chuckle slightly. "Allison, how do you think I managed those years in the vampire compound before Cashile came along. I may look old and frail, but I can still take care of myself." As she spoke I could hear a cutting noise on the ropes. Seconds later, my hands and ankles were free. Joan flashed the small blade before me and gave me a devious smile before she stuffed it under her skirt.

I looked at my wrists. Of course, they were a gruesome sight. It seemed like I was wearing crimson bracelets. The skin around the burns was blistered and peeling away. I sucked in air in a panicky cry. _I'll never forget what he did._

Now that the acid wasn't constantly eating away at my wrists, they started to heal. It was amazing. Piece by piece, my skin came closer together, closing the bloody wound. My skin turned a strange pink color and looked similar to a scar. After the scar tissue healed, my wrists were back to normal. It didn't even look like anything happened. I looked at my ankles; they were perfectly normal as well.

Despite my physical wounds healing, I felt extremely weak, and _hungry_. At that moment, when I realized my hunger, I knew why Seth had sent Joan down here, _without_ restraints. He knew I would break free some way or another.

"Are you okay?" Joan asked, snapping me out of my daze.

"I'm fine," I lied as I tried to get up to search for a way out of this place. If I was left in here with Joan much longer, I might do something I would regret.

As soon as a stood up from the chair, I collapsed to my knees, Joan kneeled by my side. "You're very weak. You need blood."

"No," I pushed her wrist away. If I started, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop. I'm to new to this. My hunger overwhelmed me and controlled every aspect of my being. I thought about the first day of training, when Cashile set out those platters of food in front of us. I thought control was hard then…

"Allison," she grabbed my face so that I focused on her and her only. "I am _not_ a weak human. You need strength. You need to find a way out, and find a way to Cashile. Seth cannot learn about Cashile's past. You need to stop him, and in order to do that, you need blood."

"I-I can't. What about you? I can't hurt you. I'll never forgive myself." I shook my head.

"You won't. I trust you." Joan looked at me the same way my mother did. Her eyes had so much faith in them I though I was going to cry.

My first experience with blood was exciting and left me wanting more. Cashile said it had taken him weeks to get used to drinking blood, before he could feed live. I thought differently. I want blood. I like it.

I took a deep breath and her wrist, paused, and bit down. Her warm blood rushed into my mouth. This was different than drinking from the blood packet; I didn't have to try. Her blood flowed into my mouth and I gladly drank it. I could feel myself getting stronger—just like before—but this time it energized me more than ever. Her blood was fresh and pulsing with life; it almost made me forget I had to stop.

Reluctantly, I let go of her wrist and retracted my fangs. It's amazing how just that little amount of blood helped so much. I bet that it would have taken several blood bags to make me feel the way I feel now. I felt brand new, like a whole new person.

I ripped the hem of my shirt and wrapped it around Joan's wrist to stop any further bleeding. "Okay," I said out loud. "let's see if we can find a way out of this place."

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><p><strong>REVIEW PLEASE!<strong>


	17. Run

**i'm sorry guys. i _totally_ lost track of time with this chapter and updating. i thought a week went by and it's been almost two!:( i blame work and the beach ;D**

**ENJOY and sorry for any editing mistakes, i was a little lazy on this one.**

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><p>Chapter 17:<p>

Joan had told me that three days had gone by since I was taken from the vampire compound, and it makes sense; between me passing out and however long it took to get here, it makes sense. I mentally sighed, _three days. _I have no sense of time being held in this basement. Part of me wondered why Cashile hadn't shown up yet. _He should be here by now. _Maybe he just can't find this place. Maybe he was trying to negotiate with Seth. Whatever the reason, I wanted him here. Now. Every minute, every second that went by caused me to grow more and more anxious. We _need_ to find a way out. I would go crazy if I stayed down here any longer, not to mention my hunger was a growing problem, again.

I restlessly started tracing all of the seams of the metal wall, checking for any weak points, but this place was built like a prison. Every screw, every bolt, was precisely tightened to ensure no escape.

I walked up the stairs and found the secure metal door. There was no handle, only a finger scanner. As I looked closer at the device, I could see that it had small amounts of copper drops on it. This isn't a finger scanner; it's a _blood_ scanner. I kicked the door in frustration. The only way I'm getting out is if _he_ gets out.

Centering myself, breathing in, and gathering my strength, I stepped back and then lunged forward at the metal door in front of me, jamming my shoulder into it. Nothing. I did it again, harder, faster. My anger started to boil over and came out as a grunt each time I hit the door.

"Allison," Joan reached for me. "Allison, calm down. You're acting irrationally._ Think_ for a second."

As I cooled down I watched a bruise on my shoulder heal. The deep purple and green patch turned a raspberry color, and then back into the peach color my skin normally is. "About what?" I finally asked with annoyance attached.

Joan smiled. "You've only been a vampire for a few days and you're already acting like the worst of them."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I put my hands on my hips.

"It means you're thinking with your brawn and not your brains. There was a reason why you were chosen. You think things through. That's what vampire's are supposed to do, _think_. That's what separates them from the werewolves." Joan explained. She reminded me of Cashile in training. He always hinted at using knowledge before power. The vampires became so corrupt because they started acting so irrationally and using our immense power in favor of our knowledge.

"How are we going to get out though? _Thinking_ about getting out isn't going to help right now."

With a sly smile and smooth voice, she replied, "deception…"

. . .

"You understand the plan, right?" I asked. Joan and I had done an equal amount of thinking, but I wanted to make sure, one last time, that we were on the same page; we do not have any room to mess this up.

At the same time Joan nodded her head, I heard a door close upstairs, followed by footsteps. Seth's back.

Joan unwrapped the cloth bandage that was around her wrist and squeezed. The (somewhat) fresh wound began seeping blood. Instantly the sweet aroma filled the small area. Every aspect of my being told me to go to the wound, to drink, to feed, but I held my ground. _Getting Seth is more important_, I kept reminding myself. If her blood was calling me this much, it was definitely calling Seth as well.

Joan let out a scream, a blood-curdling scream. "Stop, please!" Her voice conveyed panic, but nothing was wrong. I was not attacking her; I was hiding behind the stairwell, just like we planned. She was perfectly safe.

I rolled the wooden chair leg in my hand, feeling the grooves of it in my palm, calculating the weight, the force needed. I bit my lip in anticipation.

Joan looked at me. So far, our plan was not in motion. _Louder, _I mouthed. She let out another screech.

Suddenly, I could hear footsteps drawing near. "Allison, my dear, please share—" Seth stopped mid-sentence when he finally came down the stairs, only to notice I _wasn't_ attacking Joan.

Now's my chance.

I snuck up behind him and used my forearm to pin him against the wall. "It's a funny thing about vampires," I began, mimicking the tone he used with me when the situation was reversed. He tried to wriggle out of my arms; I only pushed harder. "They always come at the scent of blood."

Seth grabbed my arm and twisted out of my hold. "_Dammit," _I muttered under my breath. Seth found my frustration amusing and chuckled. "You really thought that you could fight me? I'm older than you; I'll always have an advantage over you. I'll always be stronger." Seth bared his fangs and his irises glowed a furious red. Beads of sweat balled on Seth's temple. The longer vampires wait to feed, the more human-like and vulnerable we become. The sweat on Seth's face tells me that he is weaker than usual, and my gut tells me that he's wrong: he's not stronger than me. _I'm_ stronger than him; I'll always be stronger than him. I can beat him.

As fast as I could, I ran at him. He tried to throw in a punch but I dodged it at the last second. My hand clasped around his neck and shoved him into the wall, creating a dent and a loud thud. My other hand played with my makeshift stake. "No,_ I_ will always be stronger than you, remember that…remember where I came from." With that, I took the wooden chair leg and speared it into Seth's chest. His eyes widened and his mouth opened, but no scream came out, only a gasp for air.

"You missed," he breathed, a cruel smile crawling on his face, realizing that he could still fight me.

"I know," I replied, staring into the dark pits he calls eyes while I dug the stake deeper into his chest. "I'm glad you're not dead yet. That would be too nice." I twisted the stake one more time before pushing him down to the ground and tying his hands behind him on a nearby pole. Now that he was tied up, I took the container of acid and drenched his restraints. He howled in agony. His breaths came in short spurts and he looked like he was in a great deal of pain, and for a moment I felt sorry, but then I remembered his rap sheet: threatening to rape me, biting Joan, kidnapping and torturing me. I felt no remorse.

Before Joan and I headed up the stairs I swiped my finger across his bloody chest. "Thanks," I added sweetly.

Running up the stairs, I placed my finger on the scanner and it beeped at me. I tried again, this time with more blood. _Beep._

"You're not getting out," Seth yelled weakly from the basement. "But I can." In the most discreet way, there was a smile lingering in his insane tone. "Why are you even running? What are you running from, Allison?" Seth called from down the stairs.

Even though his voice sounded weak, it still sent chills down my spine, haunting me as it crawled up the staircase. "From me, your fears, the _truth_?" he guessed. "That's what you like to do after all: run." Seth chuckled darkly. "You see, the more you run, the more you try to get away; the more _I win. _I'll find out where you're running and I'll catch up; I will find out what you are hiding."

Ignoring his eerie commentary, I tried again. _Beep. _My next try used the last of the blood. "_Come on_," I whispered to myself. I heard several gears lock in place, which was soon followed by the door automatically swinging open. I smiled in relief. I peeked my head out to make sure it was safe and gestured Joan to follow me. "Do you know where we are?" I asked her.

"No, he drugged me when he brought me here," she explained sourly.

"Okay," I sighed. "Start looking for anything we can use to contact Cashile or Viktor." Joan nodded in response and started looking around.

The building was small, and wooden. Small rays of moonlight slipped past the cracks in the frame. The floorboards squeaked under my feet. Apart from a couch spewing foam, a few books, a beaten coffee table, and an old television with a hole in it, the upstairs was empty. From the outside, I bet you wouldn't even be able to tell the basement was being used as a torture chamber. It would just look like another abandoned house.

"Find anything?" I called out. No response. "Joan?" This house isn't big at all; in fact, it's more like a shack. _How can she not hear me?_ I turned around in confusion.

Seth stood in the doorframe with Joan in his leechy grasp. His shirt had a bloody-rimmed hole ripped in it. No more stake. His pink wrists were just starting to heal. No more restraints. _How did he get free? _His hand was covering Joan's mouth, fangs bared dangerously close to Joan's neck. Joan's expression showed something greater than terror and I could hear her heart racing, which didn't make dealing with my hunger any easier. "Tell me what you and your little boyfriend did to become so powerful. Things like this don't just run in the bloodline. It's something more; I know. Tell me!" He yelled, hunger pulling him into hysteria. "Or I kill her. Tell me, and no more stupid riddles."

I clenched my fists and tried to buy time. Seth can't know about the secret—and I'm surprised it's taken him this long to figure it out—but he's drunk with arrogance. That's why it's taken him this long.

"And if I tell you, then you'll let us go?"

"Of course," He hissed the 's' sound. "But if you don't, she dies, and then your mother, and your father, and that little brother of yours die too. Have you ever tasted young blood before? Mmm. Delicious—"

"Fine," I cut him off from explaining any further and sighed. "If you figure out Cashile's origin, you figure out why he and I are so powerful." I said vaguely.

"I said no riddles! Tell me straight forward! Now!" Seth's grip tightened around Joan's mouth, his nails digging into her skin, drawing blood. She let off a scared whimper.

The fierceness of his voice made me wince.

_I'm sorry Cashile. Please forgive me. _I could see the look in Joan's eyes, everything about them said not to tell, but I had to. I have to save her and my family."Humans," I began reluctantly. "Humans are the key."

"What do you mean?" he inquired, eyebrow raised.

"Human-Vampires are better than Mutt-Vampires because our bodies have more human blood to feed from."

"You expect me to believe that?" he growled, his mouth getting gravely close to Joan's neck.

"Look at Viktor," I rushed on, distracting him from Joan. "and all of the other Vampire Council members. You're afraid of them because you know they are powerful, but you don't know why."

"They're hundreds of years old," he defended. Seth's voice rose in octave, finally realizing that I was right.

"They were all _human_." I got to him. Seth understood, and _I_ understood what would happen next. He would selfishly turn hundreds of humans, killing many in the process, build an army…

"Thank you for your cooperation, Allison." Seth's back straightened and in a split second he bit into Joan's neck, savored her blood and then left, without a trace, leaving me alone with Joan.

Memories flashed before me as Joan fell to the ground. Once again, they felt like they were mine, but I knew they weren't. I could see her being dragged away by a blonde vampire, although his face looked familiar, I couldn't put a name to it. Emotions were the second thing to hit me. I wanted to go to her, to scream and protect her, but I couldn't, something was holding me back. All I could remember was, '_I can't lose her; I can't lose anymore of my family'_.

The strange memories caused me to run to Joan and kneel next to her. "Are you okay?" I asked as I held my breath. At this point my hunger was controlling me, making my senses sharper, and my muscles tenser; it's all about the kill in my brain. Yet at the same time I felt off. Colors didn't seem as bright, objects not as sharp, reflexes not as fast. It's all about the blood; it controls me.

Covered with blood, Joan took away her hand from her neck and nodded her head. "I'm okay,"

Every pulse called to me, inviting me closer.

Just before I did something I would regret, the door opened. "Allison!" Cashile's familiar voice called, snapping me back into reality. He came and hugged us both. "What happened?" he asked, putting his hand on Joan's neck to stop the bleeding. He obviously had more control than I did. "Seth did this, didn't he?" Cashile growled.

"That's not all," I murmured. I could already feel tears forming. _What had I done? _I didn't _save _my family; I put them in more _danger_ than ever before. _I'm so stupid._

"Allison?" Cashile asked hesitantly. I stayed quiet. _I'm so stupid. Why did I tell Seth the truth? He was bluffing about everything; I know he was, and I fell for it. _"Allison? What did he do to you?" Cashile started getting angrier, not at me, but at all of the potential things Seth could have done.

"He knows." I answered. I tried to speak up, but there was a giant lump forming in my throat.

"What?" Cashile whispered, his voice and face growing concerned.

"He knows!" I said loudly, angry at myself. "He knows about humans! It's all my fault. I told him, he was going to kill your mom and my family and God knows who else if I didn't—"

"Hey, shhh," Cashile took me into and embrace and I finally let my tears flow; I didn't hold back. My breaths came in sobs and my throat had a burning bulge, which accompanied my hunger. "It's okay," Cashile said reassuringly.

"How i-is it okay?" I asked, wiping tears from my eyes. "Seth knows and he is going to tell his stupid minions and they are going to tear up the human compound."

"You did what you had to. All that matters is that you are both safe." His voice was clam and understanding. He held my head in his hands, his beautiful two-toned eyes staring directly at me. "We'll get him. I promise. He won't hurt anyone anymore."

Cashile's words made me feel a little bit better knowing that he wasn't completely mad at me; I expected him to be furious, but me telling him what happened seemed to fuel his vengeance further. When he said we would get Seth, I knew he meant it. We _will_ find him, and all of this will be over.

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><p><strong>What do you think?<strong>

**btw, i've been thinking about another story along the lines of vampire future society again, but this one the vamps are pretty much everywhere and there are very few humans (or are there?) ANYWAY i'll get a better summary wrapped up after you help me decide one thing: PM me or REVIEW with the answer.. should i write my next story in the POV of the vampire (male) or the human (female)... or both**

**let me know your thoughts please by reviewing :) i love reading your comments**


	18. Welcome Home, Again

**oh my gosh you guys. sorry don't even make up for the long wait. sorry sorry sorry. i will try very hard to get chapters up. luckily this is a longer chapter (but that also means that i may have more errors.. please forgive me. i sacrificed grammar in order to update sooner)**

**hope you like this :) review and as always ENJOY**

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><p>Chapter 18:<p>

Outside it smelled like rain—so much better than the damp cement I have smelled recently. Thunder clapped and rolled in the distance. Flashes of purple and yellow illuminated the sky. The dark blue sky had a spot that was glowing from the full moon, and complimented by the fluffy grey clouds of the oncoming storm. The wind started to pick up and my hair flew around my face, whapping me in the mouth and eyes. I tried to tame it by putting some behind me ear, but it was no use.

Cashile led us to the car just as the rain started to spit. He came in a large black suburban, with shiny chrome on the sides and wheels, although, dust had it made it a little less shiny. The interior seemed to be the same tan color as the dust.

I've never been in a car before, well, I've never really _seen one_ either. The closest thing I ever saw was Cashile's motorcycle. In the human compound, no one had anything this special or luxurious.

Joan went ahead and hopped into the back seat. Cashile had taped a bandage to Joan's neck to stop the bleeding and allow Seth's bite to heal. He shut the door for her once she was all settled.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a soft whisper, putting one hand in his back pocket while the other brushed away one of my fly away hairs. All I did was nod my head in return as I hugged myself. "I'm _so_ sorry. If I didn't leave you, this—"

"I'm fine, really, and I'll be even better as soon as we take down Seth." I muttered. It's true: I would feel better as soon as Seth is gone; I just didn't feel great right now. I wanted to relax. I wanted to eat. I wanted to fall asleep in Cashile's arms, _without_ having to worry about anything.

Cashile looked at me with concerning eyes and then kissed me on the forehead. "Tin thermos, cup holder, closest to the front has some A negative calling your name." he shrugged slightly, "It not AB negative, but it's the closest thing I could find."

I smiled up at him. "Thanks. That's just what I need."

"You're welcome," Cashile hugged me with his strong arms and I felt safe. I always feel safe with him. _Now_ I have the assurance that everything will be okay, that I will get revenge on Seth, and Cashile will get revenge for his family.

. . .

It turns out that The Cache is only five minutes north by car (running at vampire speed would take mere seconds in comparison) and the vampire compound is only thirty minutes south. Cashile and I pondered about what would have happened if Seth had ventured out any farther, but we quickly stopped because we didn't want to jinx anything. Seth finding out about The Cache would be even more devastating than him already knowing about the power of humans.

We unanimously decided that we should drop Joan off at The Cache for her safety and planned to tell the compound that Seth killed her. In more ways than one this worked in our favor. Joan would finally be safe and we could get more vampires to help us find Seth. It was practically against the law for a vampire to kill another vampire's donor, especially when their donor has such a rare blood type. The vampires will be furious, they will want justice, and they will help us find him.

"Viktor said he would be here soon. He said that he was briefing the council members about Seth, and to keep an eye out for him. Viktor can protect you if anyone comes out here. Allison's brother, Shane, said he would look after you too." Cashile informed his mother.

"Be safe," Joan said strongly. "Both of you." She looked at me now and hugged us both. The strange, warm memories flooded my mind again; all I could think of was '_I can't lose her, not again'._ I blinked furiously to keep any tears from falling.

"You too," I wished her back.

It's hard to leave this place—The Cache—knowing that this place is safe, and sector free. Why can't every place be like this? Why do we have to go back the vampire compound, where danger lurks around every corner?

On the ride home I stared out the glass window as rain slapped across the car. So many things were overwhelming my mind that I was in a daze. _What if we never find Seth? What are were going to do about the people at The Cache? Will we ever live without sectors? Where are these memories coming from? Why do I feel the way I do about them?_

"Cashile?" I spoke up softly.

"Yeah?" he responded.

"Umm," I started awkwardly. How do I explain that I've been having these strange memories without Cashile thinking I'm crazy? It's like I'm talking to my mom again when my body was 'changing'. It's awkward to bring up, but I needed answers. What if I _am_ going crazy? "Do new vampires have… hallucinations?"

"Hallucinations?" Cashile looked at me curiously and then returned his eyes to the empty road.

"Yeah,"

"Well, it could be from hunger," he pondered. "No offense, but you look like you haven't fed in a while. Bloodlust will do that to you; you'll start seeing things, people…" Cashile started chuckling at a memory. "One time I swore I saw a person in our living room in The Cache. I tore up a whole pillow, desperate to find blood."

I laughed with him. "No, not that. I've been feeling these things, _remembering things. _I know they are not my memories, but they_ feel_ like they are."

"When do these…memories, happen?" he asked curiously.

I thought about that for a second. "Around your mother. The first time I saw her in the room, I thought she was _my_ mother and I had all of these childhood memories flood my thoughts."

Cashile stayed quiet for a moment. "You're remembering what I remember," he thought out loud.

"What? How is that possible?"

"Through the connection we share, the blood we share. I'm your sire, and I turned you. Part of you will always be with me, and part of me will always be with you."

"Those were your memories," I repeated.

"You're not crazy," Cashile interrupted my thoughts. "It happened to me too, with Viktor."

"Does it ever go away?"

"Not really. I feel the same way you do though. When I went to look for you, I had no idea where to start, but something kept drawing me out. I didn't know it was drawing me to _you_ until I found you. I could feel your pain, your anger, your fear, your _hunger_… it all called for me to save you, and it felt like I was going to rip apart if I didn't save you."

"Whoa," I breathed, shocked.

"I told you this sire stuff is serious." Cashile chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess so!"

Cashile looked concerned for a moment before he started speaking again. "What did he do to you, Allison? I could feel your pain, a lot of it…"

"I don't want to talk about it," I said quietly.

"Talking about it might make it easier. Keeping that all inside of you can't be healthy."

"He used acid, okay?" I snapped.

"Acid?" Cashile questioned.

"Yes, acid. It was around my restraints so that whenever I moved it caused more pain than before." Now that the words had left my mouth, I started crying. I hate him; I hate Seth. My tears were from fury and remembrance of the pain he caused me. They felt warm against my face as they first left my eyes, but my icy skin quickly cooled them. Cashile reached over the center council and grabbed my hand. "I'm sorry," he said. "We don't have to talk about it anymore."

. . .

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until Cashile shook me awake. I had been dreaming about life before the Choosing Ceremony. Those memories seem so blurry now that my vision and mind are sharper. I remembered the abandoned house I would run to, my family, and Wes's adorable way of pronouncing his "th" sound with an "f". Life was so easy back then. I thought it was bad, living in fear of a vampire attack, but now it's even worse. Hopefully, after Seth and everything is taken care of, I can return to that peace.

We arrived at the vampire compound around dinnertime, so our arrival was inconspicuous. Everyone was most likely in the dining hall and not walking around the corridors.

Cashile drove the huge car right into the garage, next to his motorcycle, and I saw Viktor waiting by the door. "I talked with Jaymes," he started as we got out of the car. "They will keep an eye out for Seth, but they said they haven't seen him since he took Allison."

"That means he went straight for the compound," Cashile said gravely. What little heartbeat I had, it skipped. Seth went to the _human_ compound.

"Do you want me to send reinforcements with you?" Viktor asked. Cashile stayed quiet for a moment, deep in thought. "Don't worry, if they go, I'll keep your mother safe. You know I will." Viktor kept talking.

"Fine. Send them over. We'll leave in about an hour." Cashile started heading for the door, and I began to follow him when Viktor spoke up.

"Cashile," he closed the distance Cashile had put between them and clapped both of his hands on Cashile's shoulders. "You're the closest thing I have to a son, remember what I taught you, and take down Seth before he kills out two entire populations."

"I will," Cashile turned again. He seemed to be in a hurry. He and I both knew we had limited time.

"Good luck," Viktor wished and then took off, at vampire speed, into the night; he was faster than anyone I've ever seen.

"Come on," Cashile pulled on my wrist. "You can shower and change clothes before we leave, and you'll need to feed too." Cashile inspected me up and down for a moment. "It will need to be live, if you're okay with that."

"Fine," I said, remembering that I had taken from Joan and how amazing it felt and tasted. My mouth started to water just thinking about it.

Finally taking a shower felt amazing. I let the warm water run through my hair and it seemed to wash away any worries I had—at least for the time being. I had never realized how amazing warm showers felt until my body was actually cold. I feel like one of those lizards that sit on the warm rocks to get heat into their bodies.

After shampooing and conditioning, I smelled like rosemary and mint. I felt completely refreshed, well, not completely; my throat still ached at the thought of blood.

I ended up changing into a dark pair of skinny jeans, a grey t-shirt, and a black zip-up hoodie. I looked into the mirror for the first time in days. I don't know why, but I expected myself to look much worse than I did. I guess I didn't take into account that this was the first time I have seen myself as a _vampire_.

My hair, now that it was dry, loosely waved around my face, framing it perfectly and giving off a lustrous shine, accenting its deep caramel color. My eyes were the same warm brown they have always been, but they seemed brighter and more attractive. The only thing that seemed wrong with my face was that there were dark circles under my eyes, which was only from one thing: hunger.

I have never been a big fan of make-up, mostly because I never could afford it, but today I decided to try it out. I had only watched my mother put on makeup once. I caught her off guard, secretly primping herself, dreaming of a better life. I was young then—about six. She scooped me up onto her lap, put blush on my cheeks and tied my hair back into a sophisticated bun. The only other time I've seen someone put on makeup was when I watched Christina in the mornings, but I shouldn't learn from her; she has a knack for excessive coverage on her already beautiful face.

Cashile had sent a whole bunch of stuff to his room—that we now shared—to please my needs. Clothing, make-up, undergarments, and every kind of other girly beauty products I could think of. I played with the unfamiliar tubes and kits.

For my eyes, I played it safe and just highlighted them with eyeliner and a nude, sparkly eye shadow. I grabbed the cover up in my hand and studied the familiar stranger in the mirror. I didn't need it. My skin was flawless, apart from the dark circles, but those would go away soon. I settled on a faint blush to give my face a little life.

I stopped putting on whatever make up I had on and just looked at myself in the mirror. I leaned in and inspected my face. It's strange how human I look, even though I'm far from it. I can keep my vampire side hidden if I want to, but right now I didn't; I haven't seen my face transformed before. Thinking about it, the irises of my eyes changed the same blood red I have seen Cashile's before. I lifted my upper lip with my finger and revealed my fangs. Fangs! I giggled at the sight of them; never in my human life did I ever picture myself looking like this. Never did I imagine being okay with it either, but here I am.

One last time I fluffed my hair, returned my eyes and teeth to normal, headed toward the dining hall where Cashile told me to meet him, and for the first time in a long time, I felt pretty, and confident.

Sitting at a table together were Cashile, Alex, Christina, and Jaxon. It was strange seeing them now. Changed. Vampires. All of them drank from a silver thermos and they were withholding a normal conversation until I walked up.

"Hey!" Christina got up and hugged me. I never thought of her as a hugger until now, but things change. "Damn, look at you. Vampire _definitely_ suits you." She eyed me up and down.

"Right back at ya'," I told her, inspecting both her and Alex. They looked stronger and more mature, and then I saw Alex playing with one of his fangs with his tongue. I sighed as I smiled. They did look better, though. Not saying they weren't attractive before, but _wow. _The transition caused their more attractive features to pop. Vampires are always good-looking; it attracts prey easier.

"Are you okay?" Christina asked quietly and sincerely. Cashile shot her a look, which quickly shut her up.

"I'm fine, just a little hungry is all." '_A little hungry', _was and understatement. My throat craved blood. There was a hollowness of my stomach that ached for attention. I know I just had blood on the way here, but it wasn't enough; I still craved it.

I could hear the muffled heartbeats of the humans through the thick walls of the feeding chambers. I never understood until now why the walls were so thick; it's to keep the vampires from creating a feeding frenzy. It suppresses the sound so they don't go crazy.

My mouth started watering again. My eyes found Cashile's and he must have seen the hunger in mine because he got up. "Excuse us," he said as he pulled me along to the chambers.

Once again the same guard was stationed outside, instantly letting Cashile in without hesitation, fearing the consequences if he had waited. I keep forgetting people fear him because of all of the rumors that go around. At least Seth hasn't influenced the vamp compound yet; they still think Cashile's a vamp/werewolf hybrid. "I didn't think your bloodlust was this bad? I guess I underestimated what Seth did to you. All of that trauma and little blood intake can equal one hungry vamp. Fresh blood will help suppress your hunger better than bagged blood." He said more logically than I expected, like we were back in the training room again.

"Yeah," was all I could say.

Once again, I walked down the hall of the feeding chambers. Now that my hearing and smell have improved, the walk was much more difficult. The scent of fresh blood teased my aching throat and I forced all my will power into not knocking down one of the doors to get my serving.

Cashile stopped in front of me and opened a door. I peered inside, curious to whose chamber we were going into since his mother was hiding at The Cache. The man inside was thin, yet sturdy, young—20 or something—and he had sandy blonde, curly hair. His eyebrows had an arch to them that made it look like he was intently thinking. He was sitting on his bed, against the iron posts, playing with his thumbs. Slowly, his head lifted and brightened. "Cashile," he said.

"Isaac, how are you?" Cashile responded politely, inviting me in farther by scooping his hand.

"As well as can be. What can I do for you?" Isaac asked, pulling himself to the end of the mattress.

"This is Allison," he wrapped an arm around my waist. "She's new at the whole vamp thing, and needs something close to AB negative. She knows… everything."

"Allison," he played my name on his tongue. "I heard about you. The only human Viktor chose." Isaac laughed and shook his head. "What the hell did he get you into?"

Cashile frowned. "Do you think you can help?"

"Anything to keep up appearances." I'm sure Isaac meant it as a joke, but something in his voice lingered as a protest. He rolled up his sleeve just past his elbow.

"Isaac and I grew up together in The Cache. He's been in the vampire compound to help Viktor and me gather information. He's A negative and, like I said, it's the closest thing to AB negative." Cashile explained.

At that moment I remembered the taste of Joan's fresh blood. I haven't told Cashile about that yet. I haven't even told him I've fed live either.

Everything human in me told me this was wrong; I know it's wrong, but I want to feed, to bite into his flesh and let his warm, fresh blood flow into my mouth. "Um," I looked up at Cashile, trying to ignore how much my mouth was watering, and then looked back at Isaac. "You really don't have to do this."

"Allison, I know it's hard, but it's the only way your power will return to normal. The blood packets won't help." Cashile said reverently. He thinks he knows what I'm going through; he thinks I find it repulsive to feed live, but I don't—at least part of me doesn't.

"Is it okay if you wait outside?" I asked quietly.

Cashile looked worried for a moment, his eyebrows creasing. "I'll wait outside," he confirmed. "But I'll also listen to his heartbeat and make sure everything is okay." Cashile took his hand and swept it across my hair.

"Okay," I nodded and watched as he left the room.

Isaac still sat at his bed, his eyebrows still arched in a curious way.

"Don't look at me like that." I ordered looking away and crossing my arms.

"I'm not looking at you like anything," he responded. Isaac leaned forward onto his knees. "Just do it."

I rushed forward, probably looking like a blur to him, and at sat down, taking his arm. I could feel his pulse beating in my hand, the heat of his skin radiating under me. In my mouth, my fangs popped out. After that, I didn't hesitate. I'm too hungry to hesitate. My fangs sank into his soft flesh, blood gushed freely into my mouth, filling me with life.

Cashile was right, this is nothing like AB blood, but it's close enough—blood is blood. I could feel Isaac's blood filling me up, healing my hunger, sharpening my senses, making me stronger, and soothing my aching throat. Everything about me felt enhanced and recovered.

I stopped drinking from Isaac and lifted my head. Cashile was already standing in the room; I didn't even hear him come in, I was too busy savoring the blood.

"Better?" Cashile asked.

"Better," I smiled and wiped a small drop of blood off of my lower lip.

"Good, because we have to go. Now." Cashile rushed.

"Thank you, Isaac," I called as Cashile pulled on my wrist. Isaac gave a quick wave and a sarcastic smile just before we left.

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><p><strong>let me know what you think please :) click the button.. CLICK IT (and happy olympics)<strong>


	19. Search Party

**sorry again... i sacrificed grammar for update... i officially suck at keeping my word apparently.. i'll try to be better.. EXCUSE ANY EDITING MISTAKES.**

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><p>Chapter 19:<p>

After finally wiggling out of Cashile's tight grip, I stopped dead in my tracks. "Why are you acting so weird?"

Cashile spun around, grabbed my wrist and continued walking. "They found a trail on Seth in the human compound, and it's not good. They need us there. Now."

I didn't say anything else after that. I just followed Cashile as he told me what to do and where to go. I trusted him.

We stopped by his room quickly. He rushed around his room in a blur as he gathered things and put them in a long, black duffle bag. Hidden in drawers, under the mattress, under the bed, he pulled out an abundance of armory. Guns, stakes, knives, bullets, and little metal balls with pins on top of them. "What is all of this?"

Cashile stopped only for a moment. "I told you Viktor trained me to be a weapon," he picked up one of the guns that was as long as my entire arm and looked through a sight hole. "I told him to use me at his disposal. Fortunately, he and I had the same goal in mind." Cashile put the gun into the bag and opened a box of bullets, inspecting them.

"So…he taught you to kill vampires?" I asked, perplexed.

"In case you haven't noticed, Viktor doesn't like cruel, greedy vampires—like Seth."

"No one likes Seth," I mumbled.

"He knew I would want revenge, he knew I would be stronger than any vampire, like Seth, in the compound. He taught me to fight our own kind and, when the time came, how to kill them."

I didn't know what to say. "Do you do this…often?" Has he been keeping this 'vampire hunting' a secret from me?

"Of course not," his face softened. "I'm not a serial killer. I'm _not_ like them. I was only planning to take out the vampires that either knew about the humans—which is, as far as we know, only Seth—and the vampire that killed my family."

_That's right,_ I thought, _I've never heard anything about that vampire. _"Do you know where he is?" I asked.

"No." he clenched his jaw. "Viktor and I lost his trail a few months back, just as we started planning our attack. It's like we spooked him or something." Cashile speculated. He shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts. "It doesn't matter. Right now, there are bigger issues to deal with that don't involve my own person concerns." He handed me a small gun that fitted snugly in my hand. The metal was cold and it was strange seeing this machinery in my hand. It seemed so foreign. "Do you know how to use one of these?" he asked, eyebrow raised. I shook my head, still staring at the weapon. Cashile's hands found mine and guided them as he talked. "The bullets are already in there, so you shouldn't have to worry about that." His hands lifted mine to the top of the gun. "This is the safety. The gun won't fire unless you disengage it." Cashile pushed the button down. "Now it's live." He pulled the top of the gun back and it clicked twice. Once when he pulled, another when it snapped back. "This loads the bullet into the barrel." He came around me so that his arms were hugging me, his chest on my back, and his breath down my neck. "Look down the sight. Aim. Shoot." He held my arms together so that they made a V shape in front of me. When he was done he returned the safety into its locked position and handed me the weapon. "The bullets are wooden, soaked in poison. You hit the heart, and the vampire will die immediately, the same way a stake would. You miss, and the poison spreads throughout the blood stream, eventually losing control of the nervous system, like paralysis. Since they can't move, they can't eat and they will die of starvation. It's a long, painful way to die." Cashile said gravely. "Use this as your last resort. I will be with you every step of the way, but if we get separated," he clasped my hands around the gun. "Use this."

I nodded, "I understand."

"We'll get him. I promise." Cashile said as he continued to gather his things.

. . .

Cashile and I ran together to the Human Compound. Running was soothing, relaxing and refreshing. Feeling the fresh, summer air blow past me was exhilarating. I felt free; I felt like my old self again, before all of this crazy war stuff started happening. Running almost made me forget what was really going on. Almost.

Cashile slowed down and I followed suit. We were in front of the fence. The fence that was supposed to keep all of the sectors separated. _Yeah… right_.

Cashile leaped first, taking only a few steps to thrust him over the twenty-foot fence with ease. He landed on the other side and turned back to me. "Come on,"

Fearful that I wouldn't make the jump, I shook my legs out, took a breath and leaped into the air, closing my eyes while doing so. Thankfully I passed the fence without a problem, landing next to a smiling Cashile. Small broken-up leaves and dirt stuck to my hands as I gripped the earth to regain my balance. I wiped them off. "So that's how vamps got in here," I spoke out loud as we started walking again. This time we didn't run at our full potential, we walked, trying to blend in as much as possible. We're in the human compound now. If anything were to happen, if a fight broke out; we're out numbered.

Even though it was dark, a few people still lingered on the streets, which is strange considering that most humans know better than to walk around at night; night is when the monsters come out. Night is a time to be hidden.

As we passed the humans they ducked back into their homes. They knew we were vampires just by the way we looked. Perfect, pale, fit; all traits of a healthy vampire ready to hunt. I bet some knew we were vamps because of me, I bet it was big news that I was chosen by the vampires.

I was too busy watching humans cower in my presence to notice where Cashile was leading me. Home. My wooden house that leaned to the right, small, quaint, with the rustic smell of a fireplace was directly in front of me.

Cashile knocked three times and then opened the door. Sitting at our wooden family table was my mother, father, Shane, and Nicole—Shane's werewolf 'friend'. They must be the 'backup' Viktor was talking about.

All I could do was gasp, but it came out more like a sob. My family. My family, we are _together. _I hugged my parents and Shane without hesitation. Their warmth and love brought tears to my eyes. They accepted me. They know I'm a vampire, and they don't care. They're not afraid, not even Wes. _Wes?_ "Where's Wes?" I asked, noticing he was nowhere to be found. The fire crackled in the silence.

"They haven't seen him since yesterday. He never came back from school." Shane said softly.

My entire body went limp. _No. No. No, not Wes. He's too young. He's only six._ I felt Cashile's strong arms help me to my knees and he knelt by me. "Haven't you looked for him? Haven't you followed his scent?" Cashile interrogated Shane and Nicole. My parents could only do so much, I understand that, but Shane and Nicole could literally track Wes's scent. Why aren't they looking for him?

"We lost it about a mile out. Something covered it up."

"Was it Seth?" I growled his name.

Shane nodded his head. "We thought you two would be better at tracking him than we would. I hate to admit it but vampires have better senses that werewolves, you know that."

"Then we need to go, now." I started standing up, Cashile stayed cautiously close to me.

"Allison," Cashile tried to reason, but I cut him off before he could say anything. "No!" I shoved him away a little. "My little brother is out there with that horrible vampire and I need to save him!" I yelled.

"I know," Cashile spoke quietly, trying to calm me. "but making rash decisions isn't going to help us. We need to think this through."

I took in a few breaths to center myself, take in the words he was saying. "Okay," I breathed one more time. "What's the plan?"

. . .

I took Jugi—our family blanket that is currently Wes's—and inhaled his scent. He smelled like fruit and oats with a little bit of soap mixed in. _Home._ As I continued to inhale, I recognized something else, something that make my fangs prick my tongue, something sweet. Blood. I can smell his blood. It's not _on_ the blanket but… I smelled again. He has AB negative blood, and I want it. My body craves it. For such a rare blood type I sure do know a lot of people that have it' must be my _luck_.

I hurried up and passed the blanket along to Cashile, who gave it to Shane, and then Nicole who all inhaled Wes's scent to help us track him. "Shane," Cashile said. "You lead us to where Wes's scent stopped and then hopefully Allison and I can pick up something. You'll stay will us to help fight, right?"

"Right," Shane nodded.

"What about me?" Nicole piped in.

"You'll stay here, protect the house. Howl if you need anything. We'll come running." Shane instructed. He placed his hands delicately around her face and then kissed her on the forehead. "You can take anyone that walks through the door, I know you can."

"Okay," she said softly. "Be careful."

Shane turned to Cashile and me. "Ready?"

Cashile nodded. "Yeah," I did the same. "Yeah,"

My mother came over and gave us a hug; my father followed her. "Bring him home." He whispered into my ear. "We will," I whispered back even though I doubted my own words.

I grabbed Cashile's back of guns and gave them to my parents. "Just in case. You need them more than we do."

Cashile turned to Shane. "Lead the way," Shane—now transformed into a brown and black wolf—ran out of the house, Cashile looked at me to follow him, so I did. Surprisingly, Shane was quick as a wolf. He was much faster than I've seen a regular dog run. It must be the supernatural aspect of being a werewolf that allows him to run so fast.

We ran along the line of the fence. Shane's nose to the ground; he began to slow and go off the course we'd been on. "This must be where they lost the scent," Cashile sniffed the air. "Yeah, it's definitely a lot weaker now."

Cashile and I started walking now, and Shane followed behind us. If we walked any quicker, we would lose the scent. I don't know how Seth did it, but he really did cover up Wes's scent. All I could see in my mind was Wes crying, struggling to get free with no hope of breaking Seth's powerful grip. What if we didn't make it in time? What if we're too late? _No._ No, I can't think like that.

Cashile stopped walking. "Do you smell that?" I sniffed the air and smelled blood, but it wasn't Wes's, that much I was sure of. "Yeah," I replied.

At the end of the trail we were taking there was yet another abandoned house; there were a lot of them these days. Humans forced out of their home by vampires. Families ripped apart from the choosing ceremony. Killings…There are a lot of abandoned houses.

I looked to Cashile for guidance. He put one finger to his lips to signal silence. We tiptoed around the house.

It was at this point that I regretted leaving the guns with my parents. If I had one now, I would shoot Seth. I know he's inside. I wanted to shoot Seth for what he's done. I wanted his life to be over.

Cashile and I leaned against either side of the wooden door and he kicked it open with his foot. We cautiously entered the musty house. My jaw dropped in shock.

Scattered and shackled along the floor we about 20 people, crammed into the small area. They all had cloth wrapped around their mouths to prevent them from making any noise, but since Cashile kicked open the door, there were two vampires and a werewolf in their presence, they were letting off muffled screams and trying to crawl away.

I kneeled down to one of the humans and untied the cloth. The man was skinny, much too skinny than anyone should be, and had black hair that was balding in the center. His glasses were crooked and round. Just by his physical appearance I knew he was no use to anyone. He wouldn't be missed. That's why Seth chose him. "What happened?" I asked.

The frightened man didn't know how to respond, but he gathered enough confidence to. "H-he came for us. Took us and locked us in here."

"Where is he now?" I commanded.

"I-I don't know."

"He's staring an army." Cashile said as he started untying people, Shane did the same after he transformed back into a human.

"Have you seen a little boy?" I asked people as I untied cloths and shackles. "Have you seen a little boy?" They all shook their head. I started panicking. Where is he? If neither Seth nor Wes is here, where are they?

I rushed over to Cashile and Shane. "Find out anything?" I asked. They shook their heads.

"Allison!" I heard a small voice call from behind me. We all spun immediately around.

Standing in the doorway, with the moon shining behind them were Seth and Wes. Wes stood in front of Seth; Seth held his hands on Wes's small shoulders. He was crying in short panicky breaths. "Please…help,"

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><p><strong>what do you think? review please! xoxo<strong>


	20. A Death

**so this story is getting down to the last few chapters (2-3) :( BUT don't be too sad i have a new story in mind.. i'm pretty sure it's going to be called "Dog Eat Dog World" here's a "rough draft" summary:**

**In a future society, mankind's thirst for cures and vaccines end's up being it's downfall. A few years ago doctors thought they found a cure for cancer, but it ended up having detrimental results. Humans were turned into beings that had to feed off of blood to live, and biting other humans only makes more of these monsters. The remaining humans are hunted and farmed for their blood, and their numbers are dwindling. A group of bloodthirsty vampires set out one of their own to try and find more blood. He finds exactly that... and gets more than what he was hoping. He's accepted into ****their camp and surrounded by weapons that can kill him. But what will kill him first? His need for blood, his secret, the weapons, or the girl he is slowly falling for?**

**okay so let me know if you'd be willing to read! i have some great characters and plot ideas lined up for this story :) i'm excited!**

**enjoy this chapter! **

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><p>Chapter 20:<p>

"Seth," his name came out of my mouth in a growl. "Let Wes go. You're out numbered. Two vamps that _you know_ are stronger than you and a werewolf that's trained to take you down, against you. You're smart enough to know who's going to win." I didn't know if the werewolf part was true, but I figured it was. It made logical sense. This war is real, and I'm willing to bet that the werewolves have been training to conquer and kill vampires. They're not idiots; they wouldn't be unprepared.

Seth chuckled darkly and he gave me a sinister smile. "I don't think so."

"What are you even trying to gain with Wes?" Cashile asked. "You have your army. Adding a small, innocent child isn't going to make it any stronger. In fact, he may even bring you down. He won't be able to restrain himself around blood; he'll be too overwhelmed to obey simple commands. He's just a child." Cashile repeated.

Seth pondered on Cashile's words for a moment. His eyes silted in concentration as a mischievous smile crawled onto his face yet again, as if he liked the idea of invoking chaos. "It is an intriguing idea, but that's not what I intend to do with the boy." Seth wrapped is arm around Wes, what normally would be a comforting gesture, turned into a frightening grasp. Wes looked at me with terror, his lower lip trembling. "I have him over you. You will do _anything_ to get him back, right?" My memories flashed to when Seth was torturing me to get to Cashile. Now I know how hard it must have been for Cashile.

Seth brushed Wes's light brown hair around. Wes continued to heave in sobs. His cheeks were wet and red from tears. I can't stand seeing him like this. How can anyone want to hurt a child? A _child!_

"What else could you possibly want from me?" I asked, disgusted. Seth raised an eyebrow and smiled, looking at me lengthwise. "There are a lot of things I want from you…" Seth insinuated. Next to me, I could hear both Cashile and Shane let out a deep rumble from their throats.

"Ah, ah, ah," Seth shook his head and showed off his fangs. "One wrong move and the kid dies." Shifting his tone, Seth continued. "You all have been causing me quite a bit of trouble. I can't go anywhere without someone running and causing a scene. It's hard to be inconspicuous when people are screaming. I'm trying to build a discreet army so no one will anticipate my attack. With everyone running away, it makes it hard to do my job." Seth breathed in an annoyed and calming breath. "I need you to gather up the rest of my army."

"You mean kidnap?" I spat.

Ignoring my comment, Seth continued explaining his plan. "While you are out gathering my men, I will turn the ones I've already collected." Seth gave a triumphant smile. "And teach them how to kill those smelly little dogs in the other compound." Seth sneered at Shane.

"I don't think so." Cashile growled and reached to his side, pulling out a gun and pointing at Seth's head. "Let him go."

Seeing Cashile pull out the gun made me freeze in my steps. _What if Seth acted to quickly? What if he got the chance to kill Wes?_ I looked at Cashile as if he were insane. I didn't want Cashile to push Seth too far. I continued to stare. The gun looked so foreign in Cashile's hands, yet I could tell he was skilled with it. I _know_ he is; he spent years training for this shot—the shot that would kill a vampire—his ultimate goal. A shot to the chest, slightly to the left would kill Seth immediately. Cashile would hit the target, that much I'm sure of, that's where he was aimed, but I was more worried about Seth making the first move.

'_Go,' _I heard a voice in my head.

_Am I going crazy? First hallucinations, now voices in my head?_

'_Go_,' Cashile's voice repeated. Cashile! We share a connection through our blood. Part of him will be with me. I didn't know he could do _this,_ though. '_Allison, go get Wes. Now. Be quick.' _I looked to Cashile who's face remained stern and whose lips were in a closed snarl. Maybe I was imagining his voice…he looks too concentrated to be communicating with me. Whatever was going on, however he's communicating with me, I'm going to listen to the voice. It's right. I _need_ to save Wes. _Be quick_, I thought.

My reflexes are faster than Seth's. I will always be faster. I have to act, now.

Using my new vampire speed, I ran forward and ripped Wes away from Seth's leechy grip and pulled him into my arms. Seth didn't have time to react, by the time he did, Cashile had pinned him to the ground, threatening his life with a gun, the barrel pushing against his forehead. _A shot thru the brain would stun a vampire, not kill it_, I thought. Cashile looked up to Shane. "Make sure the humans get home okay. Escort them home. Allison and I will take care of Seth."

"What about Wes?" I asked, holding him close. He still continued to sob into my chest, but they were from relief rather than terror. I delicately held his head close.

"Take him home, make sure everything's okay, return when you're ready. I won't do anything until you're back." Cashile said to me, but his eyes never left Seth.

"Okay." I picked up Wes in my arms and walked out the door first; his small arms hugged my neck and he buried his face into my shoulder.

Shane started leading the group of humans back to the inner part of the compound where they all most likely lived and I took the opposite route. As I walked, dead leaves crunched under my feet, one cricket chirped and I repeatedly told Wes it was okay and that he was safe now.

Eventually Wes's sobs slowed and he calmed down, but his grip around me didn't falter. "Aly," he began softly. "Yeah?" I asked. "Thanks. You're the best big sister ever." I smiled. "I love you," he said.

_He loved me._ He knew I was a vampire and he still loved me. He wasn't scared. I felt a wave of relief, like rain after a drought. "I love you too, Wes." I said as I kissed him on his forehead.

"Aly?" he asked again. "Yeah?" I responded again. "Will you run home? I want to go fast, like you did inside." Wes gave me a big smile. _He's not afraid of me._

Then, for Wes, I ran home. My hair flew behind me in a whirl of brown. Wes happily clutched my neck and a small giggle came from him. All too soon, we were back at our home.

I knocked on the front door three times like I saw Cashile do. I don't know if it was a password or if it was just random, but right now I just did what my instinct told me to do.

Nicole opened the door; a long gun was slung across her back and her mouth was in a tight, serious line. After she realized we were no threat she relaxed and my parents came rushing to greet us. They both embraced Wes and suffocated him with kisses.

"Where's Shane?" Nicole asked delicately, expecting the worse. Her pale eyes looked scared, filled with worry that her Alpha could be gone.

"He's fine," I whispered back with a smile. "We found humans and he's making sure they get home okay. He'll come back when he's done."

"And the other vampire that came, Cashile?"

"He's back at the house we found Seth at." I looked at my parents; they were still concentrated with Wes. I looked back at Nicole. "I have to go back. I have some unfinished business to attend to."

Nicole nodded her head in confirmation. She knew what had to be done. With a silent understanding I left, knowing Nicole would explain why I left to my parents.

. . .

Using the shackles that were previously retraining humans, Cashile bound Seth to the ground. The chains made no noise as Seth sat still on the ground, his legs in a loose "criss-cross applesauce" position. It looked like all of the energy had been beaten out of him and he was breathing hard, staring at the floor in a heated gaze. There was a cut above his eyebrow that was almost healed but still left a trail of blood down to his jaw line. Looking now, there were multiple places were there was blood, but no cut. I could hear Seth's voice in my head, '_no matter how badly you hurt vampires, they will always heal, and they will _always_ feel the pain_,' I hope he's eating those words right now.

Under my feet a wooden board squeaked. Up until now I had been silent, using my vampire given abilities to observe in secret and silence. Bothe Cashile and Seth looked up at me. Seth let out a deep growl and Cashile walked over to me. He had been standing over Seth, making sure he didn't try anything. There was blood on his shirt, splattered in small dots, which made me believe that the blood wasn't his, but that it was Seth's.

"Everything okay?" he asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. I could see that he had tucked the gun in his front waistband for easy access.

"Yes," I told him, keeping an eye on Seth's battered body, watching his chest rise and fall. _Why isn't he breaking free? He made it seem so easy when I tied him down, and I even drenched him with acid._ I shivered as I remembered how painful that was, and yet _he_ still broke free.

"Good," he intertwined his fingers as he grabbed my hand. "Come here." Cashile pulled me over to Seth. Now that I was closer I could see why Seth was so drained. He was _literally_ being drained.

Hooked up to his inner elbows were two tubes that were deep red in color and led to two bags. I recognized the supplies immediately. Any human would recognize the blood 'donation' process. Cashile must have found the provisions nearby; there were a lot of bloodletting supplies in this abandoned house. Seth brought it all here no doubt. Now it was being used against him. _Oh, the irony_, I laughed in my head.

Slowly, Seth lifted his head to look at me. His lips were closed, yet they still held a snarl.

"I told you I would wait for you," Cashile said deeply. "What do you want to do?" Cashile grabbed the gun from his waistband and a knife with a deadly hilt that was cut in a way that it made more damage coming out that it did doing in. Like shark's teeth. A weapon strictly for torture.

"I'm not sure." I told him. "Why did you hook him up to all of this?" I asked, the thought randomly popping into my head.

"To give him a little taste of what it feels like. What we had to go through as humans," Cashile laughed quickly like he made a joke. "But really, it makes him weaker, he can't escape the restraints this way." He paused for a moment before he continued. "So, what's it going to be?" Cashile held his gun in one hand and the knife in the other. For a while I sat in silence, debating what to do. "You can do both," Cashile suggested.

I looked at Seth again. What he deserved was a long, painful death. A shot to the heart was out of the question, which leaves the bullet poisoning him or the knife. I stared at him more, looking him in the eyes. As his dark eyes looked back I could almost see a triumph in them like he broke me, like he knew wouldn't go through with it, like I was afraid. "What are you waiting for?" Seth surprised me by talking. His voice was weak, but still threatening. He chuckled darkly, his fangs in view. He probably didn't voluntarily have his fangs out; they were out because of hunger. All of this blood loss was getting to him.

I stepped closer to Seth, squatting down to meet him at eye level. I glared at him with a smirk on my face. "Tell me, Cashile," I began. "What happens when a vampire runs out of blood? Do they starve? Do they go mad?" I kept my eyes on Seth as I talked to Cashile.

"All of the above, and then they die," Cashile replied.

"I think I'll go with that option." I pushed the gun and knife back to Cashile. "Either of these would be too quick, too…nice. After what he's done; he deserves it." It felt good knowing that my problems with Seth would soon be over; the only problem was I wanted Seth to die quick. I wanted him gone as soon as possible. I had to keep reminding myself: _that would be too nice. _

Cashile and I sat outside of the house on the ground. Cashile's hand was in mine and I rested my head on his shoulder as we guarded the door. Cashile's loaded gun sat in his lap, ready if Seth happened to escape, but he didn't. He just screamed restlessly. Sometimes he would yell incoherent things. "Look, I don't know what he is, just let me thru! You promised! I don't know anything! Cashile…" he would scream sporadically, lost in the past. "What is he!?"

I looked to Cashile, waiting for him to say something, but he always gave me a look that said: _he's going mad, remember?_

As the night went on, the sky grew lighter. Seth's episodes were getting shorter and spread longer apart. His voice was weaker than ever before. "Please, I just… need blood." Obviously he was really out of it because he sounded desperate, sad, helpless and… human. He sounded human. I've never heard it before up until now. He was always a monster to me, but in his last moments, he changed.

The sun was starting to make the horizon glow a fluorescent orange and pink. It's been a little over an hour since we've heard anything from Seth.

My eyelids seemed heavy. Every time I blinked, sleep seemed to pull me into its grasp. Calling, beckoning. I yawned. I was more tired than I knew. I can't even remember the last time I had a full night's sleep.

"We should go back now," Cashile said, also tired. "Before it gets too light out."

I glanced at the closed door, as if I expected to see Seth through it. The grey paint was chipping off of it. "Can we stay at my house? I'm not ready to leave them yet."

Cashile smiled warmly. "Sure,"

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><p><strong>Let me know what you think of this chapter and my idea for my next story PRETTY PLEASE! if you're willing to read it please! REVIEW!<strong>


	21. All Work and No Play

**Dear "Guest": i don't know if i'll ever finish "Sleeping with the enemy" because i'm focused on this story and thinking about my next story and with everything else in my life.. i don't really have time :( sorry**

** . . .**

**i hope you guys like this.. it's a little short sorry. and as always, try to excuse my grammatical errors. thank you**

**ENJOY!**

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><p>Chapter 21:<p>

By the time I woke up, all of my memories seemed to blur the more I thought about them. It felt like everything that happened yesterday was a dream; I was forgetting it like a dream too. It all seemed so surreal. Seth can't be gone. I'm so used to him causing chaos that it's weird for me to have peace. I laughed internally. _Even in the after life he still haunts me._

I tried to sit up a little and ended up on my elbow. My back ached from lying on the hard, wood floor so I stretched my body out like a cat after its nap and yawned. I sat up all the way and rubbed my eyes, my legs bent at the knees.

There were two pillows and a large blanket that Cashile and I shared on the floor as we slept, but I was the only body. I blearily looked around for him.

Wes came running up to me then, "Aly Cat!" his small-bodied tackle nearly knocking me over.

"Hey… Wes…" I said groggily. Little by little my memories became clearer. I'm home. After we took care of Seth, we came home. Cashile and I slept in the living room, on the floor while the sun was up.

"Careful, Wes, if you wake up a vampire too fast from their beauty sleep, they'll turn into a bat." Shane snickered from the dining table, a plateful of mushy food sitting in front of him.

Wes looked at me wide-eyed and worried, giving me a little shove toward the ground as if saying: _go back to bed_.

"Ha. Ha." I laughed sarcastically as I got up, stretching once more. Just as I reached the table, Cashile was coming down the stairs. "Hey! You're up." He smiled.

My mom was at the sink, washing dishes from their dinner most likely. The falling sun cast shadows on her face that made her look older than she was. Worry aged humans far more than time did. When both Cashile and I sat down, she turned around to serve us. "Do you need anything?" she asked softly, unsure of what the answer would be.

"Coffee would be lovely." Cashile said with a warm smile, but my mother didn't return one, she simply turned around and busied herself in the cupboards. She felt bad. I know she feels bad because she can't be a good host. We don't have any coffee. We can't afford it. Cashile's family may have been able to afford it once, and after that Viktor probably supplied The Cache, and the vampire compound had a plentiful amount of supplies. Cashile didn't understand that we didn't have such a simple thing to offer him.

"It's fine. We can just have water." I interrupted my mother's search. She gave me a thankful glance and filled up two glasses. Cashile seemed to understand after that and didn't talk about it any more.

"So, mom," Shane started, ending the awkward silence that was hanging in the room. "Do you recognize Cashile?" Shane had a playful smile on his face and Cashile eyed him furiously. Cashile didn't like being recognized—_hence the name change._

My mother turned around from the dishes and studied him for a moment. Her face twitched into a smile, something I didn't see from her that often. "My, my how could I have forgotten those eyes." Her smile widened, coming closer. "You grew up to be so handsome. I don't understand, we all thought you were… _dead_." She whispered the word, cautious of the effects it may have on him.

My mother sat down at the table with us and twisted her dishcloth in her hands as Cashile told her everything.

Then I heard it; Cashile said it as he was explaining the events of his life. His name. _Matthew. _He didn't pause to see my reaction; he just kept on continuing his story while I nearly choked on my water. No one else seemed to be as excited as I was. I've always been curious about his real name and I knew him well enough that he didn't want to talk about it, so I never asked. He liked everyone calling him Cashile. Using his old name reminded him too much of his old life, his family. And besides, 'Cashile' fit him more; it's unique, like him.

Cashile looked at me with concerned eyes, but laughing at me a bit as well. "Are you okay?" He put a hand on my back. I nodded in response and he continued telling my mother about The Cache and our plan for ending the sectors.

. . .

After my mother finished the dishes she and my father took Wes up to bed. It was their time to sleep now, now that the sun had set. They said their "goodnights" and took Wes up to our old bed upstairs. It was a shame I didn't get to see them more often since our sleeping schedules were different, but Nicole and Shane stayed up with us, which was nice. Werewolves have a higher tolerance for exhaustion so they tend to be able to run on less sleep.

"So, _Matthew_…" I tested the name and then wrinkled my face. "Nah, I like Cashile better." I kissed him quickly on the cheek. He was about to say something in return but Shane interrupted him.

"Ok. Two things." Shane started. "One: you're my little sister, you don't get to kiss." He pointed at me with his fork. He was eating yet another plate of food. I guess being a werewolf male meant you never got full. Ever. "Two: Cashile's my friend. Do you know how weird it is seeing _you_ kiss _him_?"

"Grow up." I laughed at Shane, and for a moment it was like nothing was wrong. We were just a regular brother and sister bickering, just like old times. We weren't a werewolf and vampire. We weren't divided by sectors or beliefs. _This is how the world should be; not separated by species._

"So where's the human leader's house?" Nicole asked. Nicole was a werewolf mutt so she didn't know the layout of the human compound like we did. She was born and raised in the werewolf compound, but would care less what species you were. All around nice, inside and out like Shane.

"Down the road a ways, inside the city more, by the tall Executive building." Shane said just as he was about to stuff his mouth with more food. "Mmm." He wiped his face off one last time and got up. "We better get going before it gets too late. We don't want them to be cranky."

"Good point." Cashile added.

I walked ahead with Nicole and the boys stayed behind to talk about something, trying to be secretive, but I could still hear.

"Don't you need to take care of—?"

"No." Cashile stopped Shane from continuing. "He's gone. He's not going anywhere. No one will go out there and if someone does, they can do what they please with his body. I don't care."

Shane said nothing in response and we walked in silence.

The night air had always seemed chilly to me as a human, but now the brisk breeze felt refreshing against my skin. For some reason, I liked being cold. I can understand why the vamps keep the compound underground now; it's dark and cool under the earth.

It was a short walk from my house to the leader's house—about ten minutes—but it seemed to be longer because I both anticipated and dreaded this meeting. What is the human leader going to say? Will he agree to peace or will he shut the door on us as soon as he sees vampires and werewolves at his doorstep?

Cashile and Shane had passed us and were leading Nicole and I through the courtyard. The ground here was paved with grey, weather-beaten brick and the buildings were much larger and nicer than most. Being a human representative had its advantages, but it also had its disadvantages: you put yourself at risk with both wolves and vamps.

Slowly Cashile raised his hand and knocked on the leader's door as if he were thinking twice about what he was doing. Silence. He knocked once more with more emphasis. This time I could here several pairs of footsteps rush up stairs before one pair walked cautiously to the door. _That was odd, _I thought.

The opened slowly. A tall man stood in the doorway. He was wearing loose clothing—pajama's most likely—and his hair was grey around his forehead. His arms were covered in scars. He looked young, but still old enough to lead an entire sector. "Can I help you?" he asked keeping the door only halfway open.

"Yes, actually," Cashile stepped forward. The man at the door, in defense, stepped back and shut the door slightly. "I'm sorry," Cashile put surrendering hands up. "We mean no harm. We just wish to talk."

The man looked over us one more time. "You're… all vampires?" he guessed.

"No," Shane spoke up. "I am an Alpha from the werewolf compound and this is my beta." He gestured to Nicole.

"And you're… together?" the man asked, assuming there was some strange reason we weren't attacking each other, still cowering.

"Yes." Cashile responded. "We wanted to talk with you, actually."

"Why?"

"We want to end the sectors." Shane said gravely. "Live as one."

"But you are not the sector leaders; you cannot speak on behalf of them." the human said quietly, trying not to upset us.

"You'd be surprised how many leaders in the vampire sector support us—" Cashile began.

"And there are wolves that are willing to cooperate." Shane interrupted. I thought of the wolves at the Cache. There was only a handful of them with us and a whole sector against us.

"I'm sorry," the human shook his head and began shutting the door. "I can't do anything without them here. There would be a war worse than the first if I agreed to help you." After that, the human shut the door completely; I could also hear a few locks slide into place.

"Well that went extremely well," I added with a touch of sarcasm.

"You were lying when you said there were wolves willing to cooperate, weren't you?" Cashile asked Shane as we headed back to my house.

"Yeah," Shane sighed.

"Only a select few could care less, but none of the other Alpha's would oblige." Nicole added.

"Well," Cashile said, changing course. "We'll have to change that."

"And what does that mean exactly?" I asked.

"We'll go to the werewolf compound, convince them otherwise. I should let Viktor know we are going. He's very good at persuading people." Cashile said as he grabbed a shiny black device. A blue light illuminated the pale skin on his cheek as he held the thing to his ear.

"Cashile, I don't think—" I began, but Cashile interrupted me.

"Viktor, we need your help. We're headed to the werewolf compound. Yeah. No, we tried talking with him. We need numbers. Yeah, I think so too. Okay. Bye"

"What was that about?" I asked.

Cashile looked at me as he shoved the black thing back into his pocket. "Viktor will meet us at the werewolf compound."

"Great," Shane said, unoptimistic.

"What was with the whole 'we need numbers' thing?" I asked yet again.

"Humans are going to be the hardest to convince—not saying werewolves will be easy. Humans are afraid. If we have a big enough group supporting us, showing them that we mean no harm, convincing them to sign to a treaty will be easy."

"Easier said than done," Shane mumbled as he came to a stop.

"Easier said than done," Cashile confirmed as he looked at the fence before us. Beyond it was the werewolf compound. Signs that said '_Beware_' and '_High Voltage'_ we plastered on the fence as well. "Would you two like to lead the way?" Cashile asked Shane and Nicole. "It is _your _home."

"My pleasure," Nicole added before getting a running start. As she ran with supernatural speed, she began to morph. Suddenly she fell to all fours and was covered in white fur. Just as she was about to hit the fence, her claws dug into the ground and she propelled herself up and over. The white wolf landed on the other side and looked back at us.

Shane smiled at her. "I guess we're next." He said. As he began to run, he transformed into his much larger black and brown wolf.

Cashile and I followed them as they lead us through enemy territory.

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	22. The Werewolf Compound

**so i honestly don't know if there is only one more chapter or two after this one... i think i may just make a really long last chapter after this :( even though i don't know _how_ to end this... partly because i don't want to. hehe**

**but this WILL end soon and i will start my new story which has been changing drastically in my mind.. but i think it's basically the same. please read it when it's ready "dog eat dog" will be the title...i think.. keep an eye out**

**REVIEW PLEASE (i didn't get many last time :( oh and thanks for getting me to 200 reviews! yay!)**

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><p>Chapter 22:<p>

I heard the growling all around us before my mind registered what was going on. I instinctively bared my fangs in defense and grabbed Cashile's hand in shock.

A few of the wolves stalked forward, lips pulled back and snarling. They were much bigger than the ones that stayed behind. A grey wolf ultimately came forward and transformed into an older man. He was stark naked, but no one seemed to take notice. I kept my eyes trained on his face and _nowhere_ else.

Next to me Shane transformed to talk too. "William," Shane started, his voice deep and cautious. William focused his gaze on Shane, but only slightly; he did not want to completely divert his attention from the two vampires in front of him. "Please," Shane reasoned. "They mean no harm."

"They can speak, so let them." William irritably added. William was tall and, for an older gentleman, was still built like a tree. His hair was silver, just like his fur when he was a wolf and he had three parallel scars that began at his cheek and ended at his shoulder. Terrifying power and authority radiated from him. As he spoke everything seemed to fall quiet; no crickets or late night bugs buzzing. Shane even seemed tense around him and Shane was always relaxed.

Cashile began slowly and respectfully. "My name is Cashile, I believe you know my sire, Viktor,"

"Viktor," William pondered. "Did he send you here?"

"Not exactly, but we wouldn't trespass on your land without an important cause."

"Then speak, vampire. Tell me why you have trespassed onto our land. Tell me why I shouldn't execute the both of you now?" William seemed to growl. A few wolves snarled their teeth as if it was their way of voting for us to be killed immediately.

_Execute? _He can't be serious. I knew relationships between vampires and werewolves weren't exactly the greatest, but death seemed a little harsh. At least throw us in prison. I squeezed Cashile's hand a little tighter.

"We want peace." Cashile said.

William let out a booming laugh. "Peace? You think I'm stupid, vampire?" The wolves behind him crouched in a defensive position. They seemed to be connected with William. It seemed like they were acting as one, all under William. When he was mad, everyone was mad.

"No, no, of course not," Cashile said hastily. He glanced nervously at the wolves that surrounded us. "Maybe it's best we take this conversation into a more private area."

William smiled, but it was somewhat cruel. "Very well," he nodded and most of the surrounding wolves, reluctantly, ran off. About five remained and walked with us. I still nervously held on to Cashile's hand.

We followed William, who walked ahead of us, into the heart of the werewolf compound. Just like the human compound, the werewolf one had its houses built closest to the center; it was safer than living near the fence.

The houses here were much bigger than anything I've seen. They weren't necessarily tall (about two or three stories) but they were wide, spanning over several hundred feet. I don't think one family lives in them, I think a whole _pack_ lives in one house. It would be much too big otherwise.

As I was observing the architecture, I accidently ventured off course slightly and a small, all black wolf jumped in front of me, growling. "Sorry," I gasped. I don't know if it understood me in its wolf form, but speaking to it was an involuntary action. I know the wolves responded to William's voice before but that may be some wolf connection thing I don't know about.

We stopped at a large, red building that had white stripping and an oversized mahogany door with round, black knockers. This was by far the biggest of the houses I've seen.

William didn't need to ask permission to come in, the door opened for him. "Thank you, Vivian." He said to the older woman that opened the door. She looked about the same age that William did and had the same silver hair, pulled back into a low ponytail. "Will you show these guests to the meeting hall?" he asked as he disappeared up a curving staircase. The railing on the stairs was the same black metal as the knockers. Its individual, miniature pillars spiraled down to each step, which made them look like vines, with metal leaves 'growing' down them. The walls of the entire room were paneled with wood. The counter tops that I could see were sparkly, grey and black granite. The legs of the chairs were carved with filigree decorations. There were floor length windows across the way that gave a full view of the green forest. This place was beyond beautiful. I can't imagine what it would be like living here.

Vivian nodded her head and walked us into another room. The wolves that escorted us here stayed at the entryway outside and stood guard.

The meeting room was yet another large room that consisted of a long, wooden table with about twenty black, rolling chairs around it. At the end of the room sat a fireplace that was already lit and sending the smoky scent around the room. Nicole, Shane, Cashile, and I grouped together at one end of the table as we waited for William; Vivian sat at the other.

No one spoke a word for a long time and the only sound that came from the room was the crackle of the burning logs. The heat that radiated from it was making me uncomfortable. I like the cold. I like the dark.

Eventually, William came back, fully clothed in light, battered jeans and a sweater. He carried two red things of fabric in his hands. He walked to Shane and Nicole to have them put the fabric on. They were red robes, embroidered with a gold crest on the left breast. The crest had a wolf in the center, surrounded by fleur de lis, and spiraling vines. Without refusing, Nicole and Shane both put the robes on to cover themselves.

William sat next to Vivian, intertwined his fingers and set them on the table. "What is this talk of peace you promise?" He sounded doubtful.

"There are vampires, including us, Viktor, and some of the others that are tired of the killing, that want peace."

"I do not believe you."

"Please, you have to. For years we have created a secret compound, one where all three of the sectors have lived in peace. We want to make this true for everyone, not just a select few." Cashile explained.

"Then explain to me this, vampire, _who_ were the select few? And how were they chosen?" William interrogated.

"Well they are the wolves and the vampires we knew wouldn't cause trouble—"

"_Exactly_, the ones you knew _wouldn't_ cause trouble. I sure you already know this, but there are people out there that would be more than willing to start another war."

"But—" Cashile started.

"But nothing." William quickly shut him up. "You may be an immortal vampire, but I can tell you still are young. You have seen nothing. You don't know how people behave." William sound stern, but he also sounded tired. He rubbed his temples. "If you think peace is an easy thing for us to achieve, then you are crazier than I thought."

"Have you ever tried?" I asked, finally speaking up. William looked at me as if he didn't know I was in the room.

"That doesn't matter, what does is that I am not willing to risk my pack for silly peace negotiations that will lead to evident death of the pack."

"Sir, the humans are terrified. At the beginning of these sectors it was our duty to protect them; we've failed. You know vampires still capture them. If we live amongst them again we can protect them better." Shane added.

"The vampires will retaliate," William sounded tired again like he has had this conversation too many times. "They will become more hostile than ever."

"The battle between vampires and wolves is _ancient_." Cashile stood up in anger now, but his hands stayed on the table. "We lived in peace, and secret, before the war and then only thing that's changed is our secrecy. Humans know about us now, so why can't we live in peace again?"

"It's how they were brought up, wolves and vampires alike are taught to hate each other—" William dictated.

"Then stop teaching them that. Times have changed, there is no need for us to live by the ancient laws." As Cashile spoke I thought of how much older he sounded. I thought of Viktor and Jaymes and all of the other pre-war vampires. Cashile truly was a leader and he wasn't going to leave this house until he had compromise. This is what he has been fighting for, for years. His family was killed because of vampires and if we lived in peace, none of it would have ever happened. He wants… _needs_ to stop it from happening.

"Stop teaching them what exactly? Stop teaching them that vampires are murderous creatures that only bring death and destruction? Lie to them?" William asked rhetorically.

That shut Cashile up quickly and he clenched his jaw. "No," he said softly. "Don't lie," Cashile seemed to be out of comebacks and he slumped back into his chair. He what William was saying was true. Vampires are murderers.

"What if we have the vampires continue living in the compound? I know it's more comfortable for us to live there. They'll be out of the way. That way you can live with the humans and still keep them safe." I suggested.

"What will keep them from sneaking out for a midnight snack?" William asked. This time I stayed quiet. I guess we hadn't thought this through as much as we should have. "Exactly my point," William said as he began to leave the room.

"The truth is," I started again, staring at my hands. "There are good people, and there are bad; vampire, werewolf or otherwise. There will always be disputes between us, but Cashile's right, our kinds have lived in peace before. Why can't we do it again? We need to create laws. Things specific to vamps and wolves and if anyone breaks them the leaders will choose the appropriate punishment. The vampire leaders all agree that we need peace. They want it, the humans want it, and I can tell you are exhausted of fighting; you want it too. The least we can do is try."

William looked at me for a long time, taking in all of what I had just said. From the look on his face I thought he would turn away, but he didn't. "Fine. You bring your leaders, I'll gather the Alpha's and human leaders, and we can talk, but I promise nothing."

Before William even left the room, Cashile was already talking to Viktor on his black device, telling him everything that just happened and who to bring. He slid the device back into his pocket with a smile on his face. "It sounds like they agreed to come here and talk,"

"You make it sound like you thought they would say no." I laughed slightly.

Cashile smiled. "I did."

"It's a start," Shane added, mimicking my hopeful tone.

"It is," I responded.

Since all we had left to do was wait, I had to ask. "All right, I need to know one thing though, and don't laugh," I bit my lip. "Who's William?"

Shane made a noise that sounded like choking, but he had a smile on his face. I shot him a glare, reminding him I said 'no laughing'.

"William's our Alpha," Nicole told me.

"I thought you were an Alpha, Shane?" I asked.

"I am, but there is William, who is the Alpha over everyone. We don't just have a handful of small packs; we have to be connected somehow or we wouldn't be able to work together, it would be too much of a power struggle." Shane said.

"So he's your Alpha, and all of the other Alpha's are like betas?" I asked again.

"I guess you could say that. We're under his rule." Shane shrugged, spinning in his chair.

"What about Michael?" I asked, remembering the werewolf that judged me on Choosing Day. "I thought he was the head Alpha, since he was at he Choosing Ceremony."

Nicole and Shane shared a look. "He _was_ an Alpha," she said, avoiding my eyes.

"Was?" I questioned.

"I was part of his pack back then, but we got into an… argument. After a somewhat tedious series of events… I became Alpha." Shane explained vaguely.

"How do you become an Alpha?"

Shane said nothing for a moment. "You kill the previous Alpha." He looked down at his fingers. "I didn't want this, but Michael couldn't stand me. He started to fight me and I had no choice but to fight back; he would've killed me. I was stronger than him though; he was old and weak."

I thought about how old William was and the scar that ran down his face. "So does that mean anyone can challenge William?"

"Well they can _try_…" Nicole laughed. "Because he's head Alpha he is much, much stronger than any other Alpha's. Someone would have to be suicidal to challenge him, but no one ever does because we respect him so much."

That made sense now; the way the wolves all revolved around William and seemed to bide by his every command. The perfect machine that does exactly what you say.

I thought of the number of werewolves that he could potentially command and all of the destruction that could occur. I just hope all of this ends well.

. . .

In the midst of our waiting, there was a knock on the door. Vivian immediately opened the door. As the newest guest walked through the archway, I recognized who it was: the human leader that we tried to reason with earlier. Now he was wearing long, black coat with black slacks rather than pajamas, making the small amount of grey in his hair stand out even more. He seemed nervous from the way he carried himself. I would be too if I was the only human in the room. He was one of the only human representatives the humans had. They only chose one person to physically leave the sector to communicate with the other sectors because it was such a dangerous job. I guess he's the lucky guy that was chosen.

He took a seat in the middle of William and us. He kept his eyes on the wooden table. He only acknowledged our presence by sitting far away from us. To him we were still murderous vampires. He knew _nothing_ about us.

"Luke!" Viktor's loud voice boomed throughout the room. The human, Luke, snapped his head up in surprise; mine did too. "So good to see you. Sorry it had to be such awful timing for you. You look absolutely exhausted." Viktor said with a sympathetic smile.

Viktor wore his usual dark grey suit and a blue tie. His dark hair was casually slicked back and not a hair was out of place. He looked so much like he did on Choosing Day, but I knew him in a completely different way now.

Luke mumbled, "I'm good," as Viktor patted him on the back and sat next to Cashile and me. He has a way of making people feel comfortable, but Luke was still intimidated by everyone.

Jaymes and a few other vampires I was familiar with joined us then. They started filling up the chairs as the selected Alphas came in.

"Nicole, Cashile, Allison, will you please wait outside?" William asked. I don't remember ever giving him my name, but somehow he knew it.

"We're part of this conversation just as much as you are," Cashile argued.

"But you are not leaders," William responded.

"But—"

"Cashile," Viktor said in a strict voice. He knew when he could be playful and when he should be serious; he was being serious now. "Wait outside."

"Fine," Cashile said as he, Nicole and I walked out of the meeting room. Large metal doors shut behind us with a loud thud. All we were allowed to do now, was wait.

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	23. The Decision

**so i'm pretty sure this is the last chapter.. i have a way this could become a sequal, but i have way too many othe fanfics in my head i have to work out.. so ENJOY.. thank you ALL of reviewing and reading. xoxoxo!**

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><p>Chapter 23:<p>

"Will you quit pacing? You're going to create a rut in the floor." Cashile mumbled, while running his fingers through his dark hair. He looked just about as anxious as I was. He was slouching against one of the red walls of the giant werewolf house. I've never really seen him slouch before; he usually carried himself in a professional manner.

"I'm sorry," I stopped midsentence and midstride. I didn't have to be sorry, but I said it anyway. "It's just…why can't I hear what's going on in there?" I whined. I started pacing anxiously again despite Cashile's orders.

"It's the cement in the walls." Nicole said. She was sitting on the bench outside of the meeting hall, next to Cashile. Her legs were crossed under her like a child's and she bit nervously at her nails. "When they built the room the put a special herb in the cement to keep any wolves from eavesdropping. I guess it works on vampires too."

"Wolfs bane." Cashile mumbled again.

"What?" I asked, arching a brown eyebrow.

Cashile looked up at me now. "The herb…the herb they put in the walls; it was wolfs bane. And yes, it works on both vampires and werewolves." Nicole and I shared a confused look at Cashile. "Viktor made me study that kind of stuff before I was turned."

"Well, whatever it is, it's pissing me off. I want to know what's going on. How long have they been in there?" I asked.

"Since the last time you asked?" Cashile looked at his device he used to talk to Viktor. He called it a 'phone' earlier. The screen glowed blue and lit up his face. "About ten minutes, making their total time: fifteen minutes."

I threw my head back in frustration. "Ugh, why is this taking so long?"

"It's going to take a lot longer than a couple of minutes for them to come to a decision, Allison." It was Cashile's time to sound tired. Or maybe it was anger I was hearing. He wanted to be in that meeting so badly, but they had kicked him out. This was what he had been working toward his whole life, and he was kicked out of it, left alone while other people make the next step for him.

"I need some air," I hastily walked over to the window and opened it. A blast of cool, night air blew through, making my hair fly back in strands. I took a deep breath of the fresh air, but it was mixed with something animalistic, something similar to a wet dog. It made my nose burn. In disgust, I wrinkled my nose and opened my eyes to see what the source of the smell was.

When I looked out the window saw hundreds—possibly more—werewolves. They were in groups; no, not groups: _packs, _I reminded were separated by _packs_. The sheer number of people waiting outside astounded me. Nicole must of her me gasp because she came to my side. She squealed in delight. "My pack! I'll be right back, is that okay?"

Cashile nodded and she left to go outside with a grin on her face.

"They like to be in packs. Something draws them to each other, and when they are apart they feel sick in ways we can't imagine." Cashile explained to me. He knows me well enough to know I was just about to ask about Nicole's behavior. _I wonder if he knew I was going to ask because of the sire link we share._

"Another thing Viktor taught you?" I asked, sitting on the windowsill. I could feel that the wood was cold and a little damp, even through my jeans, but it didn't bother me that much.

Cashile mouth twitched up in one corner. "Yeah."

In the distance I heard thunder roll. Minutes later—which felt like hours—rain started pouring down in sheets. There was a knock on the door and I felt inclined to answer it. I looked to Cashile to see what he thought and he just shrugged 'why not?'

When I opened the giant wooden door a group of werewolves stood before me, hair plastered to their heads, soaked from rain. Nicole was at the head of the pack (in more ways than one).

"Can we come in?" she asked, a shy smile on her face, almost like we were strangers again. Her pale hair looked more white than blonde now.

"I don't see why _I'm_ in charge of that," I muttered. "but yes," I stepped to the side. "Come on in." I smiled.

"Thanks." Nicole ringed out her hair and it left a little puddle on the steps. "Everyone else went to their respective houses, and since all of our Alphas are in there," she pointed to the meeting room. "we stayed, and then it started raining—"

"Nicole," I interrupted her. "It's fine. It's _your_ compound housing, not mine. You don't have to ask _my_ permission."

Nicole bit her lip and gave me a guilty expression. At this time most of the wolves had filed in and were sitting in the living room, kitchen and even the stairs. A buzz of whispery conversations echoed against the walls. "I just… I'll make sure no one gives you or Cashile a hard time." She said quickly and then walked into a group.

I watched her squish away and I couldn't help but notice a male next to her with the same pale hair. He was wearing a blue sweatshirt and his hands we in his pockets. His back was facing me, but I could still tell Nicole and him weren't related. She had a small frame, while he had broad shoulders, yet they were both small for werewolves. If they weren't related, then why did he seem so familiar to me?

It wasn't until he stepped to the side for someone to walk by that I recognized him: _Danny._

My heart sunk and my legs felt weak. I flashed back to the night he came and saw me in the vampire compound. As soon as he found out I liked Cashile, he had spoke to me like something you scrape out of a fry pan. Once Danny realized I liked parts of the vampire world, he was disgusted with me.

Some werewolves were keeping their gazes trained on me, but Danny's wasn't—_thank god_. He was talking to Nicole about something and, with all of the talking echoing against the walls, I couldn't hear what he was saying.

I turned to Cashile. "Can we get out of here?" I asked. More werewolves glared in my direction, obviously able to hear what I just said.

Cashile looked a little take aback. "Sure…where—?"

"Anywhere but here." I cut him off. I need to get away from Danny. I can't stand him hating me. I can't stand the way he would look at me now—fully vampire. I need to get away.

I grabbed his wrist and exited through the first door I saw. The arched doorway was framed with dark wood and led into a circular dome-like room filled with books. The sound of the door slamming shut boomed around, and then, silence.

"What was all of that about?" Cashile asked quietly. He came up behind me and grabbed my elbows and then wrapped his arm around my waist in an embrace. I spun around to face him, letting his arms comfort me. My chest was touching his and his two-toned eyes bore into mine with concern.

"Nothing…I just saw someone I knew when I was human. Someone I grew up with." I looked away from him and at the thousands of books instead.

"Don't you want to say hello?"

"No. For reasons _you_ can understand." I pointed at his chest and he gave me a sheepish smile. He liked keeping his human and vampire life separate; so do I.

He sucked in air like he was going to say something, but he walked over to the books instead. His long fingers traced the spines of the books. "I spent so much time in libraries." He looked back at me over his shoulder. "Viktor snuck me into the vampire compound to study. He had me study fighting styles, military techniques, sociology, werewolf studies, supernatural theories, and vampirism."

"It was pretty lonely wasn't it?" I asked.

"Not all the time," his voice wandered and he stiffened. "Are you hungry?" he asked abruptly.

"No,"

"I'm going to look around. I doubt they having anything, but I'm going to check, just in case."

"But," I reached out for him. Before I could get anything else out, before I could question his odd behavior, he left. I didn't want him to leave me alone. Not now; not here.

I huffed out air and walked over to the massive book self. One book stood out in particular. It was leather bound and had texture on the cover like a snake's skin. I pulled it out. For some reason, this one book spoke to me; it stood out. Its pages were yellow with age and some were crinkled from moisture. When I opened it, it crackled. On the pages were scrawled, hand written lines of black ink.

I sunk down to the floor and leaned against the books and I engulfed myself in the book—no, not book, _journal_.

I opened to the first page. It was blank except for on line in the upper right corner: _William J. Pierson_

This was the _head Alpha's_ journal. I should have stopped reading. I should have put the book back on the shelf. I should have put it away and gone to look for Cashile, but I couldn't. I turned the next page instead.

. . .

_July 21, 2005_

_I don't know why I bought this infernal thing. I figured it might be therapeutic, that it might help with the nightmares. __It has only been a week and I'm already going mad._

_I remember walking home from Frank's party, down Lakeshore Drive. It was his 21st birthday and he told me to come and have a drink, even though I was only 20._

_It was dark and I was buzzed._

_I remember a growl and then hands grabbing my shoulders. I thought I was hearing things—if only that were true. Either the alcohol kicked in or I was hit—I can't remember—but I blacked out._

_I remember waking up in a jail cell with iron bars at the door and ceiling. Only a few slivers of silver moonlight dripped through, which made it hard to see. My head pounded, and that made standing and focusing difficult. I walked around the room and pulled on the iron bars, hoping to loosen them when I heard shuffling behind me. Paired with the shuffling was clinking metal—chains. As I looked over my shoulder I saw a hunched figure in the corner, naked. He hung his head low, his hands chained behind him. I walked over to him to ask if he was all right. His head snapped up and that's the moment I realized I was going to die._

_His eyes were glowing yellow and his irises were bigger than normal, almost covering the whites of his eyes. From his throat, a deep, animalistic growl erupted. He bared his teeth and pointed canines protruded from his upper and lower jaw._

_I remember scrambling to the opposite wall, making myself small so he wouldn't attack._

_I remember the sound of him Turning. God, that was awful. He howled as his body contorted, folded, and transformed. I could hear his bones snapping. Copper colored fur grew down his back and his ears became pointed. Claws replaced his fingers. His spine and hips were no longer upright like a human. He transformed into a wolf and the chains no loner held his paws. He was free to attack._

_I remember looking at the moon, full and high, just as he lunged at me._

_He made contact with my face first and then his claw ripped down to my shoulder. I screamed in agony. I knew I was going to die. I was either going to die from blood loss or whatever disease that creature carried._

_I remember curling in on myself as I tried to stop the bleeding and then the strangest thing happened. The wolf didn't attack me. He looked like he was going to tear me limb by limb and have me for dinner before, but now he waited._

_I don't remember what happened after that. _

_August 19, 2005_

_I Turned last night, like the man in the cell. It was excruciating. It felt like every bone in my body broke, healed, and then broke again. There was a hot sensation that burned through me. As soon as I was fully changed, the pain went away, and I ran on four legs instead of two. I ran away from home. I ran away from my old life. Something is still pulling me, even though I'm in my human form. I don't know where I'm headed, but something's pulling me, calling me._

_. . ._

I kept reading, skimming the pages. He explained about meeting the man who turned him, his pack, why they chose him, and why his scar never healed—because it was how he was Turned. I flipped through pages, engorged in his story. I scanned over words like "vampire", "werewolf", "war" and so on. I read deeper.

. . .

_January 4, 2009_

_I spoke to my father today—the first time in years. I told him what I was for the first time. He told me about the human force and what they were planning. A war was coming; not over religion or land, but species. He told me vampires were involved too and I dug my fingers into the wooden table, leaving ruts. I told him to stay out of it. My Alpha had predicted what was going to happen, and I didn't want him to get involved. Hell, I don't want to get involved. _

_. . ._

The sound of a door clicking into place made my head snap up instantly. All of my muscles tensed and my senses were working over time. Everything screamed: enemy, intruder, _attack!_

By the arched door stood Danny—the absolute last person I wanted to see.

"Hey," he said, straightening up.

I glared at him as I cautiously stood up.

"I heard that vamp you were with leave and I thought I should come in and see you, but I couldn't work up the courage. He even came out and told me to go in and see you, but I couldn't. I was out in the hall for 15 minutes…" he rambled nervously. He always had that habit. As much of a joker he was, he was always at a loss for words when he was nervous. He centered himself and started again. "I'm sorry," he hung his head and leaned again the doorframe. "I lied when I came to see you,"

"What?" I spat. Danny seemed surprised to see I even spoke.

"When I came to see you, at the vampire compound, I said I was _waiting_ to be turned. I lied. I was turned earlier that week."

"Why the hell should I care?"

"My emotions were out of whack. Anger was fury; happiness was ecstasy; sadness was depression. I wasn't _me_, Aly." Danny explained as he pointed at his chest. I remembered reading William's first hand experience and he said he felt like he was going mad—not being able to control himself.

"Then why didn't you come and apologize after you cooled off?" I asked, more softly this time.

"I…" Danny struggled for words. When he finally spoke he met my eyes. "Things were put into perspective.

"So you feel the same way? You hate me? Well if you hate me then I hate you!" I began to storm off, but Danny was in front of me. I looked up to him in surprise.

He smiled from the corner of his mouth, like he had always done. "What, you thought vampires were the only ones that have supernatural speed?" His joking faced turned serious. "Look, I'm trying to apologize and you're just ignoring me."

"For good reasons," I muttered.

"Yeah, I was a _jerk_ and I can't even come up with a good enough excuse to why I didn't come to apologize. I was afraid. But when I saw you here—"

"You tried to kill Cashile,"

Danny hung his head again, continuing like I hadn't even spoken. "When I saw you, I knew I was given a second chance. You don't have to forgive me, you have every right _not_ to, but I'm just trying to make things right, and maybe I'll finally sleep at night. I just needed to clear my conscious. I could never hate you Aly Cat, no matter what species." He turned on his heels and walked to the door.

"Wait," my voice cracked a little. Danny stopped, but did not turn around. "_I'm_ sorry. I just want everything to back to the way it was." My eyes became blurry from my oncoming tears.

I could see his shoulders bounce as he laughed. When he turned around he had a smile on his face. "You know that will never happen. Even if they decide to end this, things will never _truly_ be the same."

I cringed a little. "I know." For the first time since Danny had come in, I remembered I had William's journal in my hands. "Have you ever read about what life was like before the sectors?"

Danny shrugged. "Just what we learned in school."

I held up the journal. "This William's, like your _Alpha_ William. This was written over a hundred years ago. How is that even possible? He looks like he's only 60."

Danny corner-smiled again. "You really don't know anything about werewolves do you?" I arched an eyebrow at him and he continued. "We age two times slower, sometimes even longer, like in William's case. He's an Alpha, so he is powerful."

"What's in here… is it true? The turning process?" I asked.

Danny was quiet for a moment. "It was the most painful thing that I ever experienced."

"That awful, huh? I know the feeling." Cashile leaned his elbow against the open door. Danny looked at the floor and bit his lip. His mom taught him that—_if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. _

"Glad you two could catch up, but are you almost done in here?" Cashile said curtly. Neither of us said anything. Cashile grabbed my hand and made it as noticeable as possible. Danny lingered behind us and we walked back to the entry room.

Back in the entrance the werewolves stood stiffly instead of relaxed and sitting like they were earlier. The silence in the room was eerie and the rain pounded on the roof.

The door opened. Entering the room was Viktor, he came and stood by us, Shane followed, then William and the other Alphas. William stepped inside the circle we had created.

His voice boomed with power. "Today, we have made a decision," William paused. "No longer will there be sectors separating us." I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding in. "As part of our agreement the vampires will stay underground for precautionary measures, but to those who have proven themselves," William looked around, but his eyes landed on Cashile, Viktor, and me. "Will be allowed to roam freely wherever they please. As for the werewolf sector, the gate will be torn down, no longer segregating our species with the humans."

"Sir," someone spoke up respectively. It took me a moment to realize that it was Danny. "How will this help. I mean, the werewolves are going to stay with our packs, the vampires are going to stay underground, and the humans will still cower in their homes. Tearing down the gate won't make much of a difference."

William gave a knowing smile, so did Viktor. "You will find with age, young werewolf, that once people are given the opportunity to change, they _will,_ no matter what the circumstances." Viktor spoke with his hands behind his back; it reminded me of Cashile when we were in training.

"Things will go back to the way they were, but it may not go smoothly." One of the Alpha's spoke up.

"And there _will_ be consequences. If anyone steps out, public execution will be the answer. It is the only way we can send a message to the public." William's voice was serious. "Also, Turning will no longer be annual. If anyone wishes to Turn a human, there will be a council meeting first—for population control, of course—but mandatory Turning will cease to exist."

There was a long moment of silence, as if no one was sure what to say or what to do. Hell, I didn't know what to do. The sectors are gone. No one knows what life will be like. This is the first time that I actually had control over what my life would turn out to be. The first time any of us could choose our future. It was like a door opened to a whole new world full of endless possibilities.

For the first time in a long time, I smiled.

* * *

><p><strong>THE END<strong>

**review PLEASE, let me know what you thought. also, i have several ideas for fanfics one is vampire related, one is angel related.. but i don't know what category to put it in any help? if you know please let me know!**

**xoxo review xoxo**


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